Wednesday, April 14, 2006

Dog Daze In Halifax

New Dog Ordinance Fails On Split 3-3 Vote

“If you want a friend in Halifax, get a dog,” Councilman Buddy Guthrie said, borrowing a line from President Harry Truman, as Council grappled with a proposed dog ordinance during its Tuesday night meeting.
The issue has been before Council for several months with no consensus emerging on how to address the issue.
“We’ll get a handle on things,” Halifax Councilman Jack Duvanant said to assure residents who filled town hall. “It’s always been tradition that dogs are free in the Town of Halifax.”
Residents seemed unimpressed, and many pushed to address Council again.
Mayor Leon Plaster limited the public comments to a couple of speakers.
“I doubt that anyone is going to say anything at this point that is going to change Council’s mind,” Plaster said.
Dunavant asked for a vote on his subcommittee’s proposal that dogs be confined to the owner’s property from sun-down to sun-up and make owners responsible for cleaning up after their animal’s messes on public or private property.
A roll call vote on the ordinance evenly split Council, with Councilmen Alan Stevens, Cabell Daniel and Dunavant voting in favor of the measure and Councilmen Charles Parker, Phil Hollis and Guthrie opposing.
Plaster refused to break the tie by abstaining, letting the measure fail.
Guthrie said this new proposal amounted to “half a leash law,” something he’s always opposed.
A suggestion was made that the ordinance be sent back to the Planning Commission for further study.
Parker, who is also a planning commissioner, said the current ordinance sent to Council was overwhelmingly approved by commissioners and he didn’t think it would change if it were sent back.
“If you send this back to the Planning Commission you’ll get the same ordinance with a different town council,” Parker said.
Parker said it was Council’s obligation to take action and pass the new ordinance recommended by the commission.
“We’ve had legitimate, serious concerns brought to us,” Parker said. “To say residents don’t have a problem is a big mistake.
“To say we’re going to sweep this under the rug and revisit it is a mistake,” he added.
The motion to send the issue back to the Planning Commission failed for the lack of a second.
Stevens asked residents to utilize Halifax County Animal Control Officer Emmet Edmonds to enforce existing county ordinances against destructive dogs.
Stevens pointed out that Edmonds told Council during its work session that he had not received any calls from town residents over the past thirty days.
Council tabled the issue and agreed to revisit the dog ordinance after the upcoming May 2 elections.
Also on the agenda, Council appointed a committee of Dunavant, Parker and Police Chief Devin Snead to meet with school system and VDOT officials about the traffic situation in front of Halifax Elementary School.
Snead told Council at its work session that cars were making illegal U-turns in front of the school and the situation was dangerous.
Council agreed there were currently no good traffic-flow options available and a meeting with the school system and VDOT is necessary to see if a safe turn around pattern can be formulated for the school’s drop off area.
Council also voted to adopt a resolution declaring April, Child Abuse Prevention Month in Halifax.
Council then went into closed session to address property matters.
After coming out of closed session, Council authorized Town Manager Carl Espy to move forward exploring economic development options for a property in town.

 

Defense Cancels Tetterton Bond Hearing

A bond hearing for a South Boston man accused of the production and possession of child pornography was cancelled by his defense attorney late Tuesday.
The hearing for David K. Tetterton was scheduled to be held yesterday in Halifax County Circuit Court, but was cancelled by attorney George Bagwell.
When asked why he cancelled the hearing, Bagwell said that “under the present circumstances, it seemed like the best thing to do.” He declined to elaborate further.
Tetterton, 40, of Wilkerson Street, was arrested on March 24 as he was leaving the South Boston Wal-Mart, where police say he allegedly downloaded and printed pornographic photos of children.
He was charged with 27 counts of the alleged production of child pornography and 27 counts of the alleged possession of child pornography, according to warrants issued in the case.
The following Saturday morning Tetterton was released from custody after posting $50,000 bond.
During a bond revocation hearing on March 27, substitute judge Carol Gravitt revoked the bond after being presented with some of the prosecution’s evidence.
Shortly after his client was remanded to custody, Bagwell filed an appeal. Yesterday’s hearing would have heard arguments on the appeal.
Contacted yesterday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Kim White said she was prepared to present additional evidence at the hearing, had it taken place.
“The assistant Virginia Attorney General and I met earlier this week to prepare for the bond hearing appeal,” she said. “We wanted to be prepared to present sufficient evidence that we felt would have justified holding Mr. Tetterton without bond.
“We continue to review the evidence so we will be prepared for the preliminary hearing set for May 24,” White added.

 

King Village Suit Not Over Yet

Appeals Could Mean Road Construction Not Under Way Until 2007

Tuesday’s agreement between the two parties in the King Village litigation means the county and the Lacy family is one step closer to an agreement, but the suit is not over by any means, according to County Administrator Bryan Foster.
Following a day of negotiations at Riverstone Technology Park, the Halifax County Board of Supervisors voted to accept a resolution affirming a $50,000 purchase price for 2.9 acres of right of way into the subdivision, according to County Attorney Russell Slayton.
But Slayton was quick to point out that no payment would be made until all litigation is concluded.
Foster said yesterday that he anticipates that D. Epps Lacy and James Lacy will appeal a September, 2005 ruling that the county has the authority to take the land under the eminent domain statute.
“They can’t appeal anything until we complete the process (of the lawsuit),” he said. “They want to appeal the legality of the eminent domain ruling.”
Naming Epps Lacy and James Lacy, both of Love Shop Road, as defendants the Petition for Condemnation seeks to condemn approximately three acres for right-of-way and six drainage easements necessary for improvements to the roadway, according to Halifax County Administrator Bryan Foster.
The suit claims that the Board of Supervisors, through eminent domain, has the power to condemn the property and take title to the three acres after paying the Lacys fair market value as determined by the court.
During Tuesday’s negotiations, Foster said the agreement reached was the fair market value of the property.
“The authority for the taking (of the property) is specifically provided… by…the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, which grants to the Board the power to acquire by condemnation title to land, buildings and structures, or any easement thereover, for the purpose of opening, construction, repairing or maintaining a road, of for any authorized public undertaking, if the terms of purchase cannot be agreed upon,” Slayton, wrote in the petition.
In April, 2003, the Lacy family declined to donate the property needed for the right-of-way to the county.
Supervisors adopted a resolution authorizing the condemnation of the property on March 1 of last year.
The property rights-of-way and easements are necessary to construct a state-maintained road to the community known as King Village, located off Love Shop road.
Foster said Wednesday that a hearing to determine the fair market value of the property was scheduled for May 8, “but the agreement reached yesterday (Tuesday) hopefully will alleviate that.”
When asked when “bulldozers will be on the road,” Foster said the pending appeal could slow the process.
“I don’t think anything could happen before late this year, but then because of the weather and it being in winter, it would probably push it into the spring,” he said.

 

Jimmy Wade Inducted Into Softball Hall Of Fame

Jimmy Wade, a Halifax County resident in his 20th year of coaching in the Dixie Softball League, was inducted into the Dixie Softball Inc. Hall of Fame last October, following the National Board Meeting in Alabama.
The award officially acknowledging his induction was presented to Wade by State Director Frank Perkins during the Virginia Dixie Baseball/Softball meeting in Lynchburg on February 25.
Wade, who began coaching in the Dixie Softball League in 1987, is anxiously awaiting his 20th year of coaching in the league, according to Perkins.
“Jimmy won his first state title in 1995 and carried his first team of 16-18-year-old Halifax Debs to the Dixie World Series,” said Perkins.
“Since then, he has helped lead 10 Halifax Debs teams to state championships and World Series berths as either head or assistant coach. Always a favorite of the players, coach Wade is quick to make the girls laugh and have a great time.”
Perkins recalled that past teams fondly remember limousine rides to the ball park with Jimmy, Jimmy doing the “locomotive,” and also coming up with an unending supply of quick one-liners that relieved the pressure, all the while working hard to be successful.
“Coach Wade’s dedication to Dixie girls, although never doubted, was put to the test in 2005, following heart surgery in November 2004 and surgery to remove a brain tumor in May 2005,” said Perkins.
“It looked doubtful that coach Wade would make his tenth trip to the district, state and World Series. “But, to the delight of his players, fellow coaches and Halifax softball fans, Jimmy Wade trotted onto the field for opening ceremonies at the Dixie World Series in Dothan, Alabama in August 2005.”
Wade’s positive attitude toward the game of softball and life itself has served as a good example to all the girls whom he has coached, according to Perkins.
“Halifax Dixie Softball has enjoyed success and growth over the years,” said Perkins.
“The league has been blessed with wonderful young girls who came together for a ‘season’ to be a team and often times became champions.
“Certainly, the example of coach Wade’s ‘never quit’ attitude has played a key role in many of those victories.
“True lessons of a life that surely has and will continue to mold young girls’ lives in a positive way.”

 

Strutmasters.com 150 Slated Saturday At SBS

Fans Will Be Treated To A Five-Race Card This Weekend

South Boston Speedway will race under the lights on Saturday, April 15, after taking one week off.
The Strutmasters.com 150 is the next event slated on the 2006 schedule at America’s Hometown Track. The green flag will fall to begin Saturday’s racing action at 7 p.m.
Highlighting the night of racing will be a 150-lap event for the drivers in the Barkhouser Late Model Stock Car Division.
Also slated for action on the four-tenths mile asphalt oval on April 15 are the competitors in the Strutmasters.com Limited Sportsman Division, the Budweiser Pure Stock Division and the touring Southern Vintage Modified Series. The Pure Stock drivers will hit the asphalt for a pair of races on April 15.
New Jersey native Jon Denning leads the points standings in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division. He enters Saturday’s race with a four-point edge over Jonathan Cash of Oxford, N.C.
Rookie Adam Barker of Hurt is in third place in the standings, six points down to Cash and a dozen points out of the lead with Owen Miller of Emporia and David Quackenbush rounding out the top five.
Denning and veteran Philip Morris have each scored a win in the track’s first two races of the season.
South Boston’s Bruce Anderson enters this week’s action as the points leader in the Strutmasters.com Limited Sportsman Division and former Halifax County resident Scott Phillips, who now resides in Roxboro, N.C. leads the points standings in the Budweiser Pure Stock Division.
The action should be exciting in the Pure Stock Division Saturday night as drivers in that division will be featured in a doubleheader.
Adult admission for the race will be $8 up to 6:30 p.m. and $10 after that. Youth, ages 10-15, will be admitted for $5 and children under the age of 10 will be admitted free with a paid adult.
For more information, visit the speedway’s website at www.southbostonspeedway.com or phone the track at (434) 572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540.

 

Comets Girls Shut Out Prince Edward

The HCHS Varsity Girls Soccer Team Picked Up Its Eighth Win By Downing Prince Edward County 8-0

The Halifax County High School varsity girls soccer team picked up its eighth win of the season here Wednesday night and did it in a convincing fashion, defeating Prince Edward County 8-0.
Wednesday night’s victory gave the Comets a sweep of their two regular-season contests against Prince Edward County and improved their record to 8-1 overall and 1-1 in Western Valley District play.
“I think we’re playing better,” remarked Halifax County High School coach Sid Young.
“In the first two minutes we played as well as we could. The ball didn’t cross midfield and we scored twice. The girls are beginning to understand what we’re telling them to do – about the passing and coming to the ball and things like that. They felt a little more confident with what we’ve been working on. They’re more aware of what they need to do to win.”
Sophomore Lacy Will scored two goals in the first half and added another in the second half to complete a hat trick for the Comets. Melissa Smith, another sophomore, scored two goals as the pair accounted for five of the team’s eight goals.
Will got the Comets off to a quick start with Will needing only 29 seconds to score the team’s first goal. Smith scored another quick goal, that one just one minute and 41 seconds into the contest.
Smith was credited with the assist on Will’s game-opening goal and Will got the assist on Smith’s goal.
The Comets continued to dominate the action and picked up their third goal of the half on a shot from senior Emily Nichols at then 9:39 mark. Mary Beale had the assist on that play.
Will scored her second goal of the game at the 22:58 mark. Senior Jessi King, who usually plays at the goalie position but was moved to another position, scored at the 27:53 mark of the half with an assist from Sarah Rosche.
That ended the first-half scoring for the Comets as they held a 5-0 edge at halftime.
Young continued to juggle his lineup and run reserves into the game in the second half and his Comets team continued to score.
Will scored her third goal of the game and completed her hat trick with a shot at the 7:11 mark of the second half. Later, with the Comets leading 6-0, Smith banged home another goal, that one at the 14:26 mark, to make it a 7-0 Comets lead.
The Comets’ Mary Beale capped the contest with a goal at the 22:35 mark to put the Comets up 8-0 and force an end to the game under a slaughter rule.
Young said he and his team had no intentions of doing anything to embarrass the Prince Edward team. His intention, Young said, was to pull his players back.
“I didn’t see the last two goals,” Young pointed out, noting that he was busy helping an injured Prince Edward player and an injured member of the Comets team, Krystal Hooker.
“If I had seen them, I would have pulled people off. The last one (goal) I saw was Lacy (Will) scoring. Then, Krystal got hurt and the girl from Prince Edward, an exchange student from Slovakia, get hurt.”
Young said that on the other hand, he wasn’t going to dictate to his players that they had to make and complete a certain number of passes before they could score.
“That’s kind of embarrassing to the other team too,” he pointed out.
“We’ve done it once or twice just because there was no other way to slow the game down. We’ve been on the other end of it too and the girls know how it feels. We’re not going to do that. We played everybody. We played a few people out of position.”
The Comets coach added that he was surprised that the win came in the manner that it did.
“I’m really surprised at the score because when we played them up there, they had three starters out and we beat them 6-0,” Young pointed out.
“It was a much closer game and the second half we kind of broke it open.”
Young noted that Prince Edward was hampered by the loss of one of its players just as the team was about to leave to come here to Halifax. The player, Young noted, had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.
“That’s going to have an emotional effect on the girls,” Young said.
“I thought they played harder the second half than they did the first half.”
While the Comets picked up the win, it was a somewhat costly victory with the injury to Hooker.
“I think Krystal hurt her knee pretty bad,” Young said.
“If we lose Krystal, it will be a big loss because she has been starting. Angel Wilkins got hurt and Krystal took her place in the lineup and now she’s hurt. The same thing happened last year, except last year both of them got hurt in the same game.”
As far as the shots tally went in Wednesday night’s contest, the Comets got off 12 shots and Prince Edward got off 11 shots. The difference, however, rested in the fact that the Comets hit eight of their shots while Prince Edward failed to score.
The Comets will be idle until Tuesday, April 25 when they host GW in a Western Valley District contest.

 

 

Obituaries

Harry Edward Edmonds
Harry Edward Edmonds, 67, of 2131 Snow Hill Road, Alton, died April 10, 2006, at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Edmonds was born in Halifax County on July 25, 1938, to the late Booker T. Edmonds and Susie Terry Edmonds, and was married to Lena Cole Edmonds. He was a member of St. Paul CME Church and was an employee of Halifax Regional Hospital.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Alesia Richardson of Alton, Donna Edmonds of Dallas, Texas, and Cynthia Jones of Halifax; three sons, Carl Cole of Greenville, Jeffrey Edmonds of Alton and Dwayne Edmonds of Chesapeake; three sisters, Mildred Coffee of Jamaica, N.Y., Nancy Davis and Catherine Edmonds, both of South Boston; two brothers, Henry Louis Edmonds of Washington, D.C. and Algie Edmonds of South Boston; numerous grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; one son-in-law, Larry Richardson; and two daughters-in-law, Tonya Edmonds and Wanda Edmonds.
Funeral services for Mr. Edmonds will be held today, April 14 at noon at St. Paul CME Church with the Rev. Billy Cherry officiating. Burial will follow in Berry Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.
The family is receiving friends at the home.
David Oscar Smith Jr.
David Oscar Smith Jr., 84, of Chase City died April 6, 2006.
Mr. Smith was the son of the late Oscar and Blanche Smith, and was married to the late Geneva T. Smith. He was a Navy Veteran of WWII, lifelong member and deacon of Antioch Baptist Church, and member of Chase City American Legion Post #43.
Survivors include two daughters and sons-in-law, Phyllis and Joseph Griffith of Clarksville, and Pam and James Bohannon of Chase City; a sister, Mary Cunningham of Chesterfield; one brother, Herndon Smith of Hopewell; three grandchildren, Jodi Griffith Meadows and husband, Watkins, of South Boston, Kyle Griffith and wife, Lynn, of Pawleys Island, S.C., and Emily Bohannon of Chaes City; two great-grandchildren, Jonathon and Jackson Griffith.
Mr. Smith was also preceded in death by one sister, Eula Averette; and one brother, Raymond Smith.
Funeral services were held at 2:30 p.m. April 9, at Antioch Baptist Church with the Rev. Greg Smith officiating. Burial followed in the church cemetery with military honors provided by Chase City American Legion Post #43.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Antioch Baptist Church.