Wednesday, April 5, 2006

IDA To Locate Industrial Park On Southern U.S. 501

Following an executive session during a special called meeting Monday night, the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority passed a motion to execute a purchase option on approximately 222 acres located on U.S. 501.
According to IDA Executive Director Mike Eades, the property is located approximately one mile south of Route 58 on the west side of U.S. 501.
It is currently owned by J.A. Devin of Wyliesburg, Eades said.
“It is our intention to develop the property as a mixed-use industrial park,” he added. “We have already shown it to a couple of prospects.”
The IDA will purchase the property for $5,000 an acre, according to Eades.

Board Gives Nod To New Cell Tower On U.S. Route 501

The Halifax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a conditional use permit that paves the way for a national championship off-road motorcycle race in the county this year.
The action came as supervisors met Monday for their regular monthly meeting at the Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
The race is scheduled for September 3 on the Alan Haynes farm in Turbeville.
During a public hearing on the proposal, a representative of the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) – which will sanction the event – and the event’s promoter joined county residents in voicing their support of the proposal.
Speaking in favor of the proposal, neighbor Joseph Russell told the Board that the community supports Haynes in the endeavor.
“More important than the (economic) impact to the county is the impact this race will have to Mr. Haynes,” he said. “He was a tobacco farmer and this is an opportunity to reap the rewards from what is now a useless 475-acre farm. It wouldn’t be right to stop him from this opportunity to have some income from the farm.”
Promoter Tim Norris of Lone Rider Productions told supervisors that the AMA places strict guidelines on national events.
“This race is sanctioned by the AMA as a national championship event,” he said. “There are only a dozen each year and this (the opportunity to host an event) is a feather in the locality’s hat to receive a sanction because the standards and expectations are higher for sanctioned events.”
Norris said the race is expected to draw around 300 riders and their families to the county from across America.
“We will have a positive economic impact on the county,” he said. “And we are more than willing to work with any adjacent landowners and their neighbors to resolve any issues that come up.”
Carl Reynolds, Board member of the AMA, told supervisors that the association places strict rules on events.
“We operate by a rulebook that governs not only competitive rules and classes of competition, but covers behavior as well,” he said. “Our people are good sports and in most cases have been participating for a number of years. These people are athletes and not rowdy. They are parents, homeowners, lawyers, doctors, etc. We don’t condone rowdy behavior.”
Reynolds said he has been involved in similar races in Pittsylvania County for 13 years.
“We’ve been good neighbors for 13 years with no problems to speak of,” he said.
According to Reynolds, for every rider, around $150 is left in the host community.
Speaking in opposition to the proposal, Carter Trail resident Averett Witcher said he had collected 114 signatures opposing the event.
“They couldn’t come this evening,” he said.
Witcher said he was concerned with the impact of the event on the environment.
“These problems would be the noise, heavy traffic, trash and pollution,” he said.
Witcher also questioned whether there would be “revenge” taken out on those opposing the track.
During the hearing, Witcher’s wife Ann and son Patrick also said they opposed the proposal.
Norris said there will be multiple trash receptacles on the property and care will be taken with both the property and the adjoining community.
“We will leave the place in the same condition we found it in,” he said. “As a promoter, if I’m going to spend months putting in a course, I’d like to think I would use it for another event,” he said. “If we tear up the property, the owner won’t allow us back. My feeling is if you have any questions at all, you do it right to start with.”
On a motion by Supervisor Wayne Conner and with a second by Supervisor Doug Bowman, the Board unanimously approved the permit on the condition that there is “quiet time” between 11 a.m. and noon.
Other Business
In other business, supervisors unanimously approved an application by New Cingular Wireless for a 199-foot telecommunications tower on U.S. 501 near Clark-Jordan Trail.
Speaking in favor of the proposal, attorney Will Dibling told the Board that care has been taken to ensure the tower is in compliance with county ordinances.
“We think that here we have the ideal tower site that meets all requirements of your ordinance,” he said. “We think it will have a minimal, if any, effect on the community. We know this tower will promote public safety and public convenience and with this tower, the New Cingular network will expand the availability of communications in the county.”
Telling the Board that he had met with the neighbors in the area, Conner offered a motion to approve the request.
Supervisors unanimously approved the motion with Supervisor Doug Bowman abstaining.
During Monday’s meeting, the Board unanimously approved an application filed by the Industrial Development Authority to rezone just over 14 acres from agricultural to manufacturing.
The property is located west of Riverstone Technology Park near the intersection of Sandy Beach Road.
Supervisors also unanimously approved a rezoning application filed by Charlie Betts to rezone .28 acres from agricultural to residential.
Betts is seeking to operate an adult home on the property located on Memorial Drive.
Following the public hearings, supervisors voted to allocate $50,000 to the Virginia Department of Transportation for a study on the relocation of Wolf Trap Road as part of the runway expansion project at Tuck Airport.
Supervisors also approved including Confroy Drive at Riverstone Technology Park in the county’s secondary road system and set a public hearing on the county’s school budget for April 17.

National Immigration Debate Shouldn’t Hurt Area Farmers
H2A Program Supplies Legal Migrant Workers To County Farmers

Staff and Wire Reports

Halifax County farmers who use seasonal migrant labor in their tobacco fields shouldn’t experience any disruptions or labor shortage, according to Eloise Wilder, secretary for the Virginia Agricultural Growers.
“I don’t believe it will effect us greatly,” Wilder said of new immigration legislation being debated in Washington. “It could impact someone if they’re here with fraudulent documents.”
Halifax growers use the federal government’s H2A program, one that allows migrants to perform seasonal work legally in the U.S. and then return to their country of origin.
“We’ve always used the H2A program,” Wilder said, pointing out that other large agricultural states such as Florida and California don’t participate in the program claiming it’s too cumbersome.
Picking fruit at large California vineyards or farms is very labor intensive, according to Wilder and these farmers employ vast numbers of migrant workers, many of them reportedly undocumented.
“Some states are really pushing for this legislation (to let illegal workers stay),” she said, noting that several Idaho and California politicians are among those leading the charge.
“They know that workers are undocumented,” she added, noting many workers have been at these large farms for a long time and are important to the operation.
It is ironic, Wilder said, that H2A workers that have played by the rules and followed the law are not eligible for the proposed path to permanent U.S. residency.
H2A workers were included in the last amnesty granted in the 1980s by the Reagan Administration.
“H2A people were included in that and it cost us all our workers,” she said. “Twenty years ago the program was supposed to fix the woes of agriculture.”
Granting amnesty and a path to citizenship amounts to a reward for illegal behavior, Wilder said.
“If that’s not a reward, I don’t know what it is,” she said. “More people are going to want to come in the same way.”
Wilder said that whatever the government decides to do she doubts anything will happen quickly.
“It will be a while before all this gets settled,” she said, noting under one current proposal the workers only have to show they have worked 100 days a year for five years to be eligible to stay in the U.S. After they meet that criteria, they can move on to less labor-intensive work.
In Washington, Republican senators uncertain of support for a proposal to allow illegal immigrants with jobs to remain in this country reached for a compromise late Monday to bolster votes for the measure.
Meeting into the evening in the office of Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the lawmakers considered allowing illegal immigrants who have been in the country more than five years or have other connections to the United States to remain legally and eventually seek citizenship.
‘‘We’re looking at the roots concept, and that is if they have been here more than five years,’’ Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said after leaving the meeting. ‘‘That is a reasonable line as to people who have roots who ought to be treated differently. And if they have been here less then five years, they do not have roots to the same extent and can be treated differently, and that is what we’re looking at.’’
The fate of those with less time in the country was unclear, but Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested they might be asked to go to ports of entry, like the Texas border city of El Paso.
A similar proposal was made in Specter’s committee for younger, unmarried and more recent illegal immigrants before they re-entered as authorized guest workers.
Specter said the proposals — mostly brought forward by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. — would be spelled out to other Republicans on Tuesday morning.
‘‘What we’re trying to figure out is something which will be workable so 11 million undocumented will come forward, not create a fugitive class,’’ he said.
Frist had raised the possibility of a compromise in a Sunday talk show, saying illegal immigrants in the country are not a monolithic group.
‘‘Some have been here 10 years. They’re assimilated to our society and they may have a road to a green card,’’ he told CNN’s ‘‘Late Edition.’’ ‘‘But some of those 12 million people here — in fact, 40 percent — have been here for less than five years, need to be dealt in a different fashion.’’
The evening work was a sign of the pressure senators are feeling to get a bill passed by week’s end. Hagel and Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who also participated in the meeting, said they were looking for a bill that would appeal to a broader base and clear the Senate to begin negotiations with the House.
The House passed a tougher bill last year that would make being in the country illegally a felony.
The Senate began its second week of debate Monday on immigration, but had yet to resolve which of three major proposals it would move forward.
A bill approved by the Judiciary Committee — based on a proposal by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. — would allow illegal immigrants in the United States before Jan. 7, 2004 and who have jobs, to work legally for an additional six years and eventually become citizens. The proposal has drawn opposition from some who consider it amnesty.
A proposal by Frist does not deal with illegal immigrants but boosts border enforcement and cracks down on employers who hire illegal workers.
A third bill proposed by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., would give illegal immigrants up to five years to leave the country before they can return legally to apply for permanent residence or be guest workers.
Earlier Monday, the Senate voted 91-1 in favor of a proposal by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to allow legal immigrants fluent in English to become U.S. citizens in four years rather than five.
An estimated 7.2 million legal permanent residents have lived in the United States long enough to become Americans, according to the Homeland Security Department’s Citizenship and Immigration Services office. The wait to become an American is five years, three years if the legal permanent resident marries a U.S. citizen.
Alexander said a shorter naturalization wait might motivate more green card holders to seek U.S. citizenship.
President Bush is backing proposals for temporary work programs ‘‘because that will relieve pressure off the border,’’ White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
‘‘It will allow our Border Patrol agents to focus on the criminals and the terrorists, the smugglers and traffickers that are trying to come into this country for the wrong reasons.’’
Also Monday, the Senate voted 84-6 in favor of providing $50 million over five years for crime fighting by local law enforcement agencies within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border. The House authorized $100 million over a year for local officials within 25 miles of the border.
Earlier, a Senate panel wrestled with how to reduce a backlog of immigration cases in federal appeals courts. Most of the appeals involve people seeking asylum or those who are refugees. The appeals have risen from 1,723 cases in 2000 to 12,349 in 2005.

 

Obituaries

Joan Lowery Brandon
Mrs. Joan Lowery Brandon, 48, of Pathway Drive in Chapel Hill, died Monday at the UNC Medical Center.
She was born in Halifax County on August 26, 1957, the daughter of Sylvia Cole Lowery and the late Marshall Brann Lowery. She was a radiology technician at Rex Hospital, was a member of the Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church and was a founding member and trustee of the South Atlantic Association of Electrophysiology for Allied Professionals.
Funeral services for Mrs. Brandon will be held at the Brooks Funeral Home Chapel at 2 p.m. today, April 6.
The Rev. Randy Holmes will officiate.
Burial will follow at the Mt. Cana U.M.C. Cemetery.
Mrs. Brandon is survived by her husband, John Elwood Brandon of Chapel Hill, her mother; one daughter, Lauren Ashley Burn-Carini and husband Michael, both of Great Falls, Montana; and one brother M. Warren Lowery of Timberlake, N.C.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 5216, Glen Allen, Va., 23058.
Donald Ray ‘Don’ Gregory
Donald ‘Don’ Ray Gregory of Dunwoody, Ga., died Thursday, March 30, 2006. Born October 13, 1931, in South Boston, Mr. Gregory served in the U.S. Air Force. He was a graduate of the University of Richmond, where he was a member of the varsity football team and Phi Kappa Sigma social fraternity. He retired after 30 years from Smith Kline Beecham Pharmaceutical Company.
Mr. Gregory was preceded in death by his parents, Ada and John Gregory of South Boston. He is survived by his wife, Gwendolyn Haley Gregory; two sons, Donald Ray Gregory Jr. and wife, Jill, of Morganton and Christopher Brian Gregory and wife, Audrey, of Dallas, Texas; five grandchildren, Donald Ray Gregory III, James Christian Gregory, Audrey Logan Gregory, Hana Marie Gregory and Benton Niels Gregory; and one sister, Billie Marie Sizemore, of Buffalo Junction.
A eulogy was held April 2, at 3 p.m. at H.M. Patterson & Son Oglethorpe Hill Chapel.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the Shepard Center, an Atlanta based catastrophic care hospital, at 2020 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30309.
Kay Boyles Vaughan
Kay Boyles Vaughan, 70, of Richmond died April 3, 2006, at St. Mary’s Hospital. She was born in South Boston on December 21, 1935, the daughter of the late Willie Douglas Boyles and Elsie Mayes Boyles and was married to Page Haskins Vaughan Jr. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church.
Survivors include one daughter, Mary Jo O’Hallahan and husband, Don, of Richmond; one son, Page H. ‘Bud’ Vaughan and wife, Jane, of Lexington, S.C.; one sister, Sandra Landrum of South Boston; two grandchildren, Christopher Vaughan of Lexington and Elizabeth Vaughan of Charleston, S.C.; and one nephew, Michael Landrum of South Boston.
Graveside services for Mrs. Vaughan will be held April 8, at 2 p.m. at Oak Ridge Cemetery with the Rev. Andy Bawtree officiating.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home Friday evening, April 7, from 7 until 9.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Halifax County Cancer Association, P.O. Box 875, South Boston, 24592.

 

Baseball Standout Savarese A Study In Determination
Former South Boston Wrappers Player Not Deterred By Small Stature
An athlete should be judged by heart and determination, not the limiting factors of size and stature, and there’s no better example of that than 5’-3” Fred “Scooter” Savarese, one of four inductees this year into the South Boston-Halifax County Sports Hall of Fame.
Savarese, former baseball standout with the South Boston Wrappers, will be formally inducted into the Hall this Saturday, along with Jack Crews, Bill Maxwell and Don Thompson.
The Hall of Fame Banquet starts at 6 p.m. at C.H. Friend Elementary School.
Savarese excelled in baseball and later softball, learning his craft by playing stickball in his hometown of New York City.
“I grew up in the Big Apple, on 10th Avenue, and we played stickball on the street back then,” recalled Savarese.
Savarese described his playing field as consisting of chalk-marked boxes on the sidewalks for first and third base, while sewer system manhole covers served as home plate and second base.
“I think Willie Mays must have played stickball, because he was known to say that he hit a ball ‘four sewers,’” said Savarese.
“The distance between manhole covers was about 100 feet, so that meant he hit the ball about 400 feet.”
Bats were primarily broomsticks and the balls used were similar in size and density to raquetballs, he added.
“The pitcher bounced the ball to the plate and you picked out one you liked and hit it, but we only had one swing at the ball.
“People on the sidelines bet on the game, sometimes $40, sometimes $50. If we lost, they lost and if we won, they won, so there was a lot of pressure in those games.
“You didn’t want to drop a ball.”
Savarese fondly recalled traveling to Yankee Stadium with his father to watch the Yankee greats of the day, such as Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Charlie Keller.
He said he got his nickname partly for the way he ran the bases and partly because his playing style resembled another Yankees shortstop who was short in stature.
“Phil Rizzuto was a shortstop with the Yankees and a contemporary of mine,” said Savarese, who played ball on the sandlots of New York before landing a spot on Sacred Heart, a church team that competed with teams throughout the city.
“We played against teams in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, the Kiwanis and Lions clubs also had teams,” said Savarese.
“We were a bunch of rinky dinks, our uniforms didn’t match but we just outplayed everybody and won the city championship about 1948,” he laughed.
After a stint in “B” League baseball in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Savarese came south and was playing “D” League baseball in Colonial Heights when Wrappers manager Jimmy Epps called him.
“He called and told me they needed a third baseman,” recalled Savarese. “I told him I was too short to play third, but he told me to come anyway.”
Epps had a surprise awaiting him when he arrived in South Boston, explained Savarese.
“When Epps saw me in person, he told me that I was too short to play anywhere,” he said, but Savarese stayed with the team for about four years, starting in 1951.
The Wrappers played in the Southside League, against teams like Clarksville, Chase City and South Hill, according to Savarese.
He played alongside Dick Groat one summer before he moved on to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I always played shortstop, but when Dick came here, I moved to second base,” noted Savarese, who remembers teammates Bob Owens, Junior Owen, Jim Mallory, Charlie Suttenfield, Claude Wilborn and Bobby Mabe among others.
“Claude made the big leagues with the Boston Bees, and he could really hit that ball,” recalled Savarese, who also remembered Mallory for being a little near-sighted.
“Jim later played for the Giants, and he could really hit the ball but he couldn’t see too well in left field,” said Savarese.
“When he was in left field and a ball was hit toward him, he would holler for me to go get it for him,” he added with a grin.
Bidding wars were not uncommon in those days, even in semi-pro baseball, according to Savarese, who said some teams literally priced themselves out of existence.
“One team would go and pay $300 for a pitcher and another team would then go out and pay $400 for a pitcher and that’s how it progressed,” said Savarese.
“You had ex-major leaguers, college players and local guys all in the mix. Some of the teams couldn’t afford it, but Jimmy always had us ready when the bell rung.”
After the demise of the Wrappers, Savarese played county league baseball, sometimes twice a day, here in the afternoon and in Altavista at night.
“I remember one guy as being a real character,” recalled Savarese with a smile. “He brought a six pack with him to just about every game. It didn’t hurt his hitting, but it did hurt his fielding.”
Savarese turned to softball after the demise of semi-pro baseball in Halifax County, playing for Clay’s Mill and Ziggy’s Pizza, helping the later to a 26-1 record and a Southside Ruritan League Championship.
He, along with wife Frances, reside in Buffalo Landing, where Savarese has lived since 1963, and he admits to doing a little fishing now and then.
He still follows baseball, particularly the Yankees and Orioles are on television, but doesn’t get out much to watch the games.
He poked a little good-natured humor at himself when talking about his selection to the Hall of Fame.
“I guess I got lucky, they must have run out of people, but I it’s been a good go-around for me,” admitted Savarese.
“I went as far as I could go in baseball.”
Savarese went a lot farther than a lot of people may ever have imagined.

 

Committee Seeking Funds To Rebuild HCHS Weight Room
A Committee Of Former HCHS Athletes Has Created The Comet Football Alumni Club To Raise Funds For The $30,000 Project

A committee composed of former Halifax County High School athletes has formed the Comet Football Alumni Club to raise funds to revamp the weight room at the field house at Tuck Dillard Stadium with new equipment and new flooring.
Committee spokesman Lonnie Moore said the project will cost $30,000.
“We’re somewhere close to (having raised) 25 percent of the cost now,” Moore pointed out.
Moore said the weight room project is expected to be completed this summer prior to the start of the upcoming football season.
.“The big thing we’re emphasizing is that this will serve students involved in all sports, not just those involved in football,” said Moore.
“We wanted to do something that can help everybody. With sixth-grade students expected to be coming to the middle school once the additions and renovations are completed, even more students will be involved in sports and this will be something that will benefit all of them.”
The plan is to equip the weight room with new, more modern weight training equipment and replace the floor with a better, safer type of flooring that is appropriate for an athletic weight room facility.
Equipment currently in place in the weight room that is still useable will be taken to the main building at Halifax County High School and installed in the weight room in the gym.
By doing that, the weight room in the gym will be improved as well and that facility will be better equipped to serve students.
Moore pointed out that the committee, with the creation of the Comet Football Alumni Club, is reaching out to all former Halifax County High School athletes and alumni, as well as area residents and businesses, for support for this endeavor.
“There is definitely a need to re-equip the weight room and replace the flooring,” Moore pointed out.
“It’s doable, but it’s going to take all of our former players and Halifax County High School alumni to get it done.”
Former HCHS athletes, HCHS alumni and other interested individuals and businesses wishing to join the Comet Football Alumni Club have a choice from among four levels of contribution - $100, $250, $500 and $1,000.
There are also three corporate levels of contributing - $1,000, $2,000 and $5,000.
The Halifax County Public Schools Education Foundation is serving as the fiscal agent for the Comet Football Alumni Club. All contributions will be tax deductible.
Persons wishing to join the club and contribute to the project should make checks payable to the HCPS Education Foundation, Inc. and mail them to P.O. Box 1175, South Boston, Va. 24592.
A reception for Comet Football Alumni Club members will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 8 at the field house at Tuck Dillard Stadium. The new weight room will be open for display that night prior to the start of the night’s scheduled Comets varsity football game.
In addition to creating the Comet Alumni Football Club, the committee is working to create a new internet website for the Halifax County High School football program.
The website will be www.cometfootball.org and it will be up and running in the very near future.
Comets varsity football coach John Lacy Harris pointed out, “the best way for this to work is for a person (a former Comets athlete or interested individual) who lives here to reach out to somebody else (a former Comets athlete) they know who does not live here and get that information (name, address, phone number, etc.) to us.
“Once we have the information, we can contact the people and send them a brochure.”
Harris pointed out that with Halifax County having only one high school and one middle school, the improvements will benefit a large number of students not just for the coming year, but for many years to come.
“Everybody has a stake in this project,” he concluded.

 

Comets Boys Track Team Places Second, Girls Place Fourth In Bradford Relays

Two Members Of The HCHS Track Team, Patrick Terry And Juanita Kincy, Qualified For The Group AAA State Meet

Two members of the Halifax County High School track team, Patrick Terry and Juanita Kincy, surpassed the qualifying standards for the Group AAA state meet enroute to scoring wins in Saturday’s annual Vince Bradford Relays in Lynchburg.
Kincy, a senior, won 100-meter dash in the girls meet with a time of 12.795 seconds. She qualified for the state meet by turning in a 12.19-second time in a preliminary heat.
Terry, a junior, won the 100-meter dash in the boys meet, turning in a time of 10.74 seconds. He qualified to compete in the state meet by posting a time of 10.69 seconds in a preliminary heat.
Overall, the Comets boys track team placed second in its meet. Fork Union Military Academy won the meet with 90 points and the Comets followed with 44 points. E.C. Glass placed third with 43 points, Appomattox High School was fourth with 38 points and Heritage High School rounded out the top five in the 20-team field with 34 points.
The Halifax County High School girls track team had one its best days of the year with Saturday’s fourth-place finish in the Vince Bradford Relays.
Blacksburg High School won the girls meet with 70 points and was followed by E.C. Glass (59), Rustburg (54) and Halifax County (39). Patrick Henry rounded out the top five teams with 28 points.
“I was very pleased with how we did,” said Comets girls track coach Lewis Watson.
“We were leading the meet after the first six events. We needed this. This was a big turnaround for us. We looked like a whole different team. For all of the lumps we took during the indoor season, this was worth it.”
In the boys meet, six individuals including Terry placed in the top six and earned points for the Comets.
David Anderson placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 44 feet and 10 and a half inches and Jeremy Clauden placed second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.08 seconds.
Corey Jackson placed third in the shot put with a toss of 46-11.
Derek Brooks placed fifth in the high jump with a leap of 5-10 and Jamond Edmonds placed fifth in the long jump with a jump of 21-1.75.
Halifax County High School’s 4x100-meter relay team consisting of Terry, Mark Ferrell, Clauden and Anderson placed third with a time of 43.52 seconds.
In the girls meet, Halifax County High School had six individuals to place in the top six and score points including Kincy who won both the100-meter dash and the high jump.
LaDonna Canada placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 32-9.5. Marteia Ferrell placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 33-10 and finished fifth in the long jump with a mark of 16-5.
Shaday Coleman placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.46 seconds.
Halifax County’s 4x100-meter relay team consisting of Brittany Foster, Ferrell, Felecia Bowman and Kincy placed second with a time of 51.61 seconds.
The Comets boys and girls track teams will be back in action Saturday when they travel to GW to compete in the first of a series of regular-season Western Valley District track and field meets.
Saturday’s meet will start at 10 a.m.