Monday, April 25, 2005

‘It’s About The Children’

Ward Burton Announces Assignment Of 93 Acres To The National Resources Conservation Service For Wetlands Management Project

The man who holds the nation’s top post with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) was on hand Friday as NASCAR driver Ward Burton announced the allocation of 93 acres of the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation (WBWF) property for a wetland restoration project.
The event was scheduled as a celebration of Earth Day.
Burton, joined by NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, local dignitaries and approximately 25 conservation advocates during the celebration, announced that an agreement between the WBWF had been signed that assigns the NRCS a permanent easement on the property.
Signed on April 1, the enrollment of the 93 acres in the Wetlands Reserve Program will provide federal funding and permanently protect the property from development.
Long an outspoken advocate of the conservation of natural resources, Burton told the group that creating a natural wildlife habitat is an investment in the future.
“At the end of the day, if we don’t take care of our natural resources, who will?" He asked.
Burton said the property will also be used to educate the county’s youth about the conservation of natural resources.
“This will be a place where kids can come and learn about the outdoors," he said. “We need to learn about the land so we can appreciate nature and restore our natural resources.
“If we don’t, what will we have? What kind of example are we setting for our children?
“But through education and science, we can make the land even better than it originally was," Burton added.
The land was originally cleared an estimated 150 to 200 years ago to be used for agriculture.
Knight, looking around a portion of the property, called it a “wonderful sight" to be seen on Earth Day.
“It’s important for me to be able to pause here on Earth Day and realize what we have," he said. “The theme of Earth Day this year is typical of what we’re trying to accomplish: It’s About The Children.
“Natural resource conservation is all about the legacy we’re going to leave for future generations," the NRCS chief said. “We’re only caretakers of the land while we’re on this planet and it’s the decisions we make that will determine the legacy we leave for the children."
Knight asked for a moment of silence so those in attendance could hear the sounds of the habitat.
“You hear that?" He said as the crowd listened to the croaks, chirps and calls of the animals in the park. “That’s why what we’re doing here is so important."
As part of the Earth Day celebration, Burton and Knight erected wood bat houses and duck boxes on the WBWF property.
Knight said 832,000 acres of wetlands have been “protected, restored or enhanced" since President Bush set a goal of 3 million acres of wetlands protected by 2009.
Playing an important role in nature, wetlands serve as a nursery for a wide variety of juvenile and mature species. They also act as a natural water filtration system and help control flooding by retaining large amounts of water.
“Everything we’re working on with our conservation model is for the restoration of the habitat," Burton said.
Knight said that few people in the country are better spokesmen for conservation than Burton.
“We’re very pleased he chose to make this permanent easement," he said. “It shows how much he cares about the environment."

 

Presto Donates Books To Schools

Donation Will Mean Three Books Each For 1,025 Students At Four Elementary Schools

School Superintendent Paul Stapleton was joined by representatives from Presto Products Friday to announce that the company has agreed to sponsor the Kids Plus program by purchasing books for 1,025 students in four county elementary schools.
The $6,800 grant from the Alcoa Foundation will be used over the period of one year to buy three books each for students at Clays Mill, Halifax, Meadville and Sydnor Jennings elementary schools.
The Alcoa Foundation is affiliated with the parent company of Presto Products. In Halifax County, Alcoa employs nearly 350 people at Presto Products.
Stapleton said the program, dubbed Kids Plus (Kids + Books = Success), will allow students at the four schools to select books to be a part of their personal library.
“One of the things we feel is so important about this program is it allows the students to get a sense of ownership of the books,” the superintendent said. “These will be books that they can write their name in. They own them and that gives them a sense of pride.
“Anytime we can get books into the hands of students and get them interested in reading, it’s a plus,” he added. “Reading is a gift that all children should share.”
Presto Human Resources Manager Denise Taylor-Forrest said the company feels the Kids Plus program is a worthwhile investment.
“We were more than happy to be able to help students in the community.
“Alcoa Foundation is a global resource that actively invests in the quality of life in Alcoa communities worldwide," she said. “So when our plant had the chance to apply for Alcoa Foundation grants for the South Boston area, we wanted to choose programs that would make an impact and help the greater community."
General Manager Bob Reisch, who recently took over the reins at Presto, said he has never worked for a company that places so much emphasis on helping the community.
“One of the reasons I think so much of Alcoa is they care about giving back," he said. “And when we give to the schools we’re investing in our children."
The announcement of Presto’s grant comes after Dollar General agreed to sponsor six elementary schools.
“But that means two other schools are left out," said Audrey Davidson, director of special projects for the school system.
“This is really important," Stapleton said. “We don’t want any of our children to be left behind."
The school superintendent said Friday’s announcement illustrates that the Halifax County business community “understands the importance of reading in our schools."
“This is a program that needs to be embraced by the community," he said. “It is a really big deal to the children."

 

West Point Cadets Study Staunton River Bridge Battle

Fresh from the battlefield at Petersburg, U.S. Military Academy Cadet Petersen reviewed the lessons learned, adding the new material to his personal military tactics arsenal, an arsenal that cadets anticipate will next be tapped in Iraq.
“Some tactics and principles stay the same,” said Major Tim King, a West Point instructor traveling with the 27 cadets. “They’ve been the same in the Civil War and are true today.”
“The hard part is to look at an event and apply those lessons to what they are going to do in Iraq,” added instructor Major Paul Hayes.
On the eve of the cadets’ trip to Stanton River Battlefield, South Boston officials and local military officers joined the men of West Point’s Cavalry and Scout Club for dinner Friday night.
Dissecting the leaders involved in battle, their perspective and training and how they led their soldiers through a terribly difficult time, those critical lessons stood at ease as cadets met old soldiers at arms like Halifax resident Bill Akers, a man who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, 1944.
The cadets’ South Boston stopover was in preparation for the club’s battlefield tour Saturday morning at Staunton River Bridge.
“The dismounted Union Cavalry made four attacks on the bridge,” explained Halifax historian Douglas Powell, who would conduct the Saturday tour. “That is infantry’s job,” he added. “Cavalry is fast behind the lines, good to disrupt lines.”
The cadets would learn from Powell that the Union Cavalry was not well equipped, and not the right use of resources for the job at Staunton River Bridge.
Cadets would learn that on June 22, 1864, Brig. Gen. James Wilson and Brig. Gen. August Kautz were dispatched from the Petersburg lines to disrupt Confederate rail communications.
The raiders destroyed tracks, railroad buildings and supply trains along their route.
One June 24, while Kautz was skirmishing around Burkeville, Wilson crossed over to Meherrin Station on the Richmond & Danville and began destroying track.
On June 25, Wilson and Kautz met the “old men and young boys” called at Halifax Courthouse to help the outnumbered Confederates defend the bridge, according to Powell. The Confederates held against charge after charge and the bridge was not destroyed. With William H.F. Lee’s cavalry closing, the Union forces withdrew their siege.
The cadets’ arsenal of tactics also includes these lessons.
“For the cadets, understanding the objective is not killing people or taking a piece of ground, sometimes it’s oriented on other things like railroads or lines of communications,” Major Hayes said of Petersburg.
“Convincing your enemy to stop fighting for one reason or another without actually putting them in the grave,” added Major King.

 

Obituaries

Elsie Conner Link

Elsie Conner Link, 82, of 4064 River Road, South Boston, died April 22, at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
Mrs. Link was born in Halifax County on February 10, 1923, a daughter of the late Charles A. and Lottie Ford Conner, and was married to the late Floyd Adam Link.
She was a member of Black Walnut Baptist Church and a retiree of J.P. Stevens.
Survivors include one son, Dwight E. Link. She was preceded in death by one son, Steve Allen Link; and one sister, Sarah Conner Atkins Clark.
Funeral services for Mrs. Link were held April 24 at 4 p.m. at Black Walnut Baptist Church. The Revs. H.V. Conner and James Albert officiated. Burial followed in the church cemetery.

Alfred Hardy ‘Tootsie’ Whitt

Alfred Hardy ‘Tootsie’ Whitt, 72, of 2091 Shady Grove Church Road, Virgilina, died April 21 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Whitt was born in Halifax County on February 12, 1933, the son of General Lee Whitt and Myrtle Wilmouth Whitt and was married to Rebecca T. Whitt. He was a member of Shady Grove United Methodist Church and of the Masonic Lodge in Virgilina. Mr. Whitt was an Army veteran.
Survivors include his wife; one daughter, Shelia Henderson and her husband, Roger, of South Boston; four sisters, Marie W. Murray and Mozelle W. Wilburn, both of South Boston, Peggy Gravitt of Danville, and Ola Puryear of Raleigh, N.C.; two grandchildren, Rodney Dale Henderson and his wife, Crystal, and Justin Hardy Henderson; and one great-grandchild, Summer Leann Henderson.
Mr. Whitt was also preceded in death by three sisters, Pauline and Odelia Puryear and Irene Watts; and two brothers, Austin and Leroy Whitt.
Funeral services were held at Brooks Funeral Home Chapel April 24, at 2 p.m. with the Revs. Don Davidson and John Eure officiating. Burial followed in Shady Grove UMC Cemetery.

Esther Puryear Tillotson

Mrs. Esther Puryear Tillotson, wife of Frank Barrow Tillotson, died Thursday, April 21, in South Boston.
She was 89.
Native to Halifax County, Mrs. Tillotson was the daughter of Howard Lee and Minnie Idora Forlines Puryear.
She graduated with the class of 1933 from Virgilina High School and was a member of Hitesburg Baptist Church.
Mrs. Tillotson worked at J.P. Stevens until the birth of her children and later worked for Russell Stover for eight years.
Funeral services were held yesterday in the chapel of Watkins Cooper Lyon Funeral Home.
The Rev. William Salmons officiated.
Burial followed in the Hitesburg Baptist Church Cemetery.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Tillotson is survived by daughter and son-in-law Deborah T. and Bob Puckett of Durham, one son, Abraham Mays Tillotson of Virgilina, and grandchildren John Puckett of Wilmington, N.C. and David Puckett of Greenville, N.C. Also surviving are sisters Clara Wimmer of Raleigh, Myrtis Brown of Reidsville, N.C., Ketherine Kimbrough of Gordonsville, N.C. and Virginia Morris of Virgilina.

Christopher Edwin Dale Jr.

Graveside services for Christopher Edwin Dale Jr. will be held today at 9:30 a.m., with services at the Oakland Cemetery in Scottsburg.
The Rev. Dick Vannoy will officiate.
The infant, born Saturday, April 23, 2005, died Saturday, April 23, 2005 in Lynchburg.
He was the son of Christopher Edwin Dale Sr. and Jamie H. Elliott.
Survivors include his parents, his maternal grandparents, Robbie L. Hastings and fiance John Mize of Lynchburg and Mr. and Mrs. James Hastings of Lynchburg; his paternal grandparents, Donald E. Hudson and Mary Harris, both of Lynchburg; his great grandmother, Lorraine Ligon of Halifax, his aunt and uncle, Page Lohmeier and husband Nick of Bowie, Md.; three great-aunts, Diana Bryant, Lisa Hudson and Donna Harris, all of Lynchburg and his great uncle, Donald Hudson II of Lynchburg.

 

If Only For An Out

HCHS and GW Will Resume Their Rain-Aborted Game Here Tonight At 6 P.M. With the Comets Up 1-0

BY Joe Chandler
G-V STAFF WRITER

If only for an out.
That was the wish of the Halifax County High School varsity baseball team and coach Kelvin Davis Friday night as rain poured down in sheets over Comets Field.
The Comets were in the driver’s seat – leading 1-0 and needing only to retire one more GW player in the top of the fifth inning for the game to be declared an official game.
It wasn’t to be.
With GW’s John Gregory about to step up to the plate with two out and runner Matt Scarce on third base, and teammate Cory Moore on first base, umpires waved the players off of the field. After a delay of about 15 minutes, officials called the game.
As a result, the Comets and GW will resume their battle here tonight at 6 p.m. at Comets Field at the same point where it left off Friday night with the Comets holding the one-run lead.
It was a close call for the Comets who were hoping to get the game in under the wire and nail down their second Western Valley District win of the season and get on top of the district standings.
Davis was disappointed that the opportunity got away from the Comets but was able to see both sides of the decision.
“It’s upsetting, but they (the umpires) are responsible for doing their job and they looked at the field (conditions) and made the decision," Davis said.
“At this point in the season you don’t want to get anybody hurt and, with the magnitude of this game, it might be the right decision."
The Comets coach said he doesn’t feel his team will be at any disadvantage when play resumes today.
“Anything could have happened in that situation with the wet ground and the rain," Davis pointed out.
“It’s just good for teams like GW and ourselves to have a good playing field to play on when we do play."
For GW coach Scooter Dunn and his players, the early end to the game possibly saved a loss.
When the rain turned into a heavy downpour and field conditions began to deteriorate quickly, Dunn had his players attempt to prolong the game as much as possible. The tactic worked.
“Golly, I didn’t think the umpire was going to call it," Dunn said.
“We were trying to prolong it as hard as we could. You have to do what you have to do. When you’re down by one (run) and have one out left, you’ve got to do something. That’s part of the game. I guess it’s unfortunate for the fans but, we’ll come back Monday and start over where we left off."
The game was everything that it had been billed to be – an exciting, tense, low-scoring contest.
Halifax County had three hits in the contest, two of them coming in the bottom of the third inning when they scored the go-ahead run.
Bobby Owens led off the inning with a single, advanced to second base when Marcus Humphrey grounded out to GW pitcher Jonathan Walker and moved to third base on a sacrifice by Chris Conner.
A two-out triple by Justin Armistead plated Owens and gave the Comets the lead.
GW had its share of opportunities, getting two runners on the sacks in each of the first three innings as Comets hurler Jeremy Jeffress struggled at times and yielded two hits and four walks.
However, the Comets’ defense clamped down when it needed to, with first baseman Chris Perkins making two dandy plays back-to-back to end the third inning.
In the top of the fifth inning. Scarce walked to lead off the inning for GW, went to second base on a passed ball and advanced to third base when John Watlington grounded out to second base.
With the rain coming in sheets, Cory Moore walked to give GW runners on first base and third base when the game was called.
Davis said he was pleased with the Comets’ effort.
“We were putting the bat on the ball and we executed some things," he pointed out.
“Jeremy struggled a couple of innings but he worked his way out of it and the defense is backing him up. We’re right at where I thought we would be at this time."

Comets Varsity Softball Beats GW Eagles In Danville 5-0

Halifax Improves to 2-0 In District Play With Key Win

BY Doug Ford
G-V STAFF WRITER

Road wins are hard to come by in the tough Western Valley District, but the Comets varsity softball was hitting on all cylinders Friday with a 5-0 shutout of archrival GW in Danville.
The Comets outhit the Eagles by a nine to four margin. Amanda Rogers (two RBI’s), Tracy Nelson and Lori Reeves (RBI) each finished with two hits, and Jasmine Parker, Mallory Lawter and Lashunda Davis (two RBI’s) with one hit each.
Halifax came out swinging and scored all five of its runs in the first two innings to back a complete game four-hitter by junior pitcher Beth Throckmorton.
Throckmorton scattered the four hits in seven innngs of work on the mound, striking out seven batters and walking none, and the Comets’ defense backed her up with an error-free game in the field.
Confidence, both at the plate and in the field, was the key to the win, according to Comets coach Melanie Saunders.
“The girls played with confidence today, that is something we have not seen as a whole,” said Saunders.
“Beth pitched a great game, we came out playing very aggressively and we stayed that way until the end of the game.”
Halifax had baserunners in every inning of Friday’s game except the fourth, and stole three bases compared to one for GW, the big blows coming in the first and second innings, each with two outs.
Parker led off the game by reaching base on an error, advanced on a Lawter sacrifice, and Rogers followed with a base hit and stole second.
After a groundout, Davis hit a two-RBI single and stole second, and Reeves followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Halifax added its final two runs an inning later, again coming with two outs.
Parker drew a walk to start the rally, Lawter followed with a base hit and stole second, and Rogers hit a two-RBI single to make it 5-0.
That was it for the scoring, the Comets getting singles from Nelson in the fifth, Parker in the sixth and Nelson again in the seventh without scoring.
In the third inning, Reeves and Key Ferrell got to second and third on a one-out single and GW error and advanced on a sacrifice by Cari Clark, but a groundout got the Eagles out of the inning.
GW got no baserunners past second base against Throckmorton, who got two key strikeouts after giving up a one-out single in the bottom of the first inning.
Another base hit and steal put a GW runner at second with no outs in the second, but that runner was caught stealing third, and Throckmorton got two more strikeouts to end the inning.
A GW runner was stranded at second again after a base hit to lead off the bottom of the third, a groundout and two flyouts getting the Comets out of the inning. Another GW runner was stranded at second after a one-out single and passed ball in the sixth, Throckmorton getting a strikeout and flyout to end that threat.
The Comets, now 5-3 overall, will have little time to celebrate Friday’s win, as they travel to Roanoke tomorrow for another tough district contest, this time with Patrick Henry.
Game time is 5 p.m.

 

Comets Varsity Girls Soccer Team Downs GW

HCHS Scored Big District 2-0 Road Win Friday Night

BY Joe Chandler
G-V STAFF WRITER

The Halifax County High School varsity girls soccer team scored a key Western Valley District win on the road Friday night, downing GW 2-0 in Danville.
Friday night’s win lifted the Comets’ overall record to 5-1 for the season and evened the team’s district record at 1-1.
The victory marked the first time that Halifax County has defeated GW in a regular-season contest. Halifax County has defeated GW each of the last two years in the Western Valley District Tournament play-in game.
“This was a great win for us,” said Comets coach Sid Young.
“I think this will help the girls’ confidence. Now the girls are thinking they can win and will win these district games.”
The win puts the Comets in a better position as far as their Western Valley District Tournament chances go.
With no automatic play-in game this year between the fourth-place and fifth-place teams to determine which will advance to the tournament semifinals, this game could make a big difference for the Comets’ postseason fortunes.
Halifax County and GW have faced each other in the play-in game the past two or three years and, for the last two years, it has been the Comets coming out on top.
The Comets picked up their first goal of the contest on a score by Lacy Will. That score came before lightning forced officials to stop the contest for 30 to 40 minutes with about 14 minutes left in the first half.
Once the action resumed, the Comets played well enough to hold onto their 1-0 lead at halftime.
Playing in a pouring rain, the two teams battled back and forth throughout the second half with the Comets scoring an insurance goal with less than two minutes to play in the game.
Officials cited GW for a foul and Courtney McGill drove home a direct kick that resulted in the Comets’ second goal of the game.
Young said he was very pleased with the team’s effort.
“I thought we played very well,” said Young.
“We had two (starting) defenders that were not there because they were involved in another school activity and we were basically plugging holes in our lineup.”
Young said one of the more pleasant surprises of the night was the play of Libby Austin.
Austin, who normally starts at goalkeeper, was put into the lineup at a defender spot between the 15 and 20-minute mark of the first half to sub for the injured Angel Wilkins. The team’s reserve goalkeeper Olivia Leonard, started the game at goalkeeper.
“Libby did a good job of coming up to meet the GW players and booting the ball 30 to 40 yards downfield, allowing our forwards to run under the ball and have a chance at getting shots,” Young said.
Emily Nichols and Emily Seat also played at defender positions and Julia Rogers, who normally plays at one of the midfield positions, played at the sweeper position and McGill, who normally plays sweeper, played as a stopper.
All drew praise from Young for their play.