Graduates Urged To Pursue Dreams

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Poet Langston Hughes

Quoting poet Langston Hughes, valedictorian Desma Jones urged her fellow 389 HCHS graduates to hold fast to their dreams.
“Dreams are never too big or too small for you to follow,” Jones said during Friday night’s commencement exercise.
“Anything that you wish to do in life can be done, if you apply yourself, mind and heart, and remain relentless. Everyone has the ability to make his or her dreams come true.”
The valedictorian warned graduates that the “only thing that will limit your dreams and accomplishments is you.”
She challenged the Class of 2007 “to muster all of your courage and strength and leap for your dreams.”
Although she cautioned there would be obstacles, setbacks and disappointments, she challenged the class to fight through.
“With determination and dedication, anything is possible. Just know that things worth doing are not always easy.”
In closing, Jones posed this question: “Do you want your life to be as a broken-winged bird that cannot fly or do you want to be able to say in 50 years that I have followed my dreams, accomplished my goals, and done what I wanted to do with my life?”
“To the class of 2007, again I say, “Hold fast to dreams...”
In his address to the Class of 2007, Jonathan Fallen described a complex journey ahead.
“Tomorrow we will have more responsibilities and worries than we have today. Life will come at us quickly. When we think we have everything we want, it might start to crumble.”
Fallen warned the journey would not be easy.
“There are few shortcuts, golden streets, or happy endings, but there will always be choices that we will have to make continuously day after day, and I pray that we will not only have the hope and audacity to risk the harder road but also the humility and strength to admit and ask forgiveness when we’ve made mistakes.”
Whatever life’s challenges, Fallen reminded fellow students “that there are smiles, laughter, friendships, and love that can be shared, and the more we share them, the more happiness we will find.”
He urged the class to be thoughtful in making decisions. “Make your choices carefully for you are defined by them.”
Fallen thanked parents, family and teachers for their encouragement and wished the class good luck. “To all, the choices you make will take you on great adventures. May there be many of them.”

College Degrees Lauded

Twenty-four Halifax County High School graduates took home high school diplomas and college associate degrees during Friday night’s commencement exercise.
The Class of 2007 is the first to have among its graduates students who have earned the Associate of Arts degrees through the dual enrollment program the school system offers through Southside Virginia Community College.
“You are the class to start the history,” Superintendent of Schools Paul Stapleton told the graduates. “Others will follow.”
Southside Virginia Community College President John J. Cavan joined the superintendent in awarding the SVCC degrees.
“How does it feel to be number one?” Cavan asked the crowd. The SVCC president said the school is number one in the state and rates in the top one percent in the nation in terms of dual-enrollment students.
“You far outshine any school in terms of getting your associate degree before you graduate from high school,” he said.
“Your school division has provided you two free years of higher education. That says something for the school division and the dedication and commitment of your students,” added Cavan.
The college president also praised Stapleton’s efforts in establishing and moving forward the school system’s dual enrollment program, describing him as the number one superintendent for 20 years and the man who made HCHS number one in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Obituaries

Andrew G. ‘Andy’ Perkins Sr
Andrew G. ‘Andy’ Perkins Sr. of Gum Spring died May 3, 2007.
He is survived by his wife, Jean Lacy Perkins; his children, Lisa P. Bailey and husband, Mark, Bruce H. Perkins and wife, Beth, and Andrew G. Perkins Jr. and partner, Stephen Bickers; eight grandchildren, two brothers, Daniel and Charlie; and two sisters, Mabel Conner and Hazel Hersman.
Memorial services were held at 11 a.m. May 7, in Gum Spring United Methodist Church.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Holly Grove Volunteer Rescue Squad or Gum Spring United Methodist Church Building Fund.

William Russell Bench
Graveside services for Mr. William Russell “Bill” Bench will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Oak Ridge Cemetery with Father John Kloepfer officiating.
Visitation will be held at Powell Funeral Home tonight from 7:00 to 8:30 and at other times at his home, 1044 Bench Lane in Halifax.
Mr. Bench, 71, died Saturday, May 26.
He was born in Staten Island, N.Y., on March 10, 1936, the son of the late William H. Bench and Rose E. Bench and was married to Anna M. Grecsek Bench.
Mr. Bench was a retired New York City fireman and a Korean Conflict Army veteran.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Tracey B. Chaney and husband Edwin of South Boston, and Wanda B. Riccio of Staten Island; two sisters, Rosanne Strom of Georgia and Barbara Jadlowski of Vermont; a brother, Charles Bench of S.C., and three grandchildren, Eddie and Lauren Chaney of South Boston, and Rose Riccio of Staten Island.
Mr. Bench was preceded in death by a daughter, Lori Ann Bench.
For memorials, consider the Halifax County Cancer Association, P.O. Box 875, South Boston, Va. 24592.
Online condolences may be directed to powell@gcronline.com.

Annie Mae Hackney
Annie Mae Hackney, 96, of Clarksville died May 24, 2007, in South Boston.
Mrs. Hackney was the daughter of the late George Newton and Kate Elliott Newton and was married to the late Herman Otis Hackney. She was a member of Buffalo Baptist Tabernacle.
Survivors include a daughter, Agnes Murray of Clarksville; a son, Gene Otis Hackney of Lincolnton, N.C.; one brother, Wilson Newton of Nelson; her grandchildren, Michael Murray, Bonny Martinez and John Hackney; great-grandchildren, Kris Purdy, Leslie Sue Hess, Tanner and Taylor Hackney; and two great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Mrs. Hackney were held May 27, at 2 p.m. in the Watkins Cooper Lyon Funeral Home Chapel with Doctor David Pruitt officiating. Burial followed at Nelson Baptist Church Cemetery.
Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.wclfh.com.

Lady Comets Land District Tourney Title

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
After one year and three straight losses, the Halifax County High School varsity softball team has finally broken Franklin County’s stranglehold.
Halifax County scored six runs in the first two innings and rode a four-hit shutout from hurler Paige Rickman to a 6-0 win over Franklin County Thursday in Rocky Mount in the championship game of the Western Valley District Tournament.
The last time Halifax County had won the district tournament championship was in 2005 when the Comets blanked Patrick Henry.
Even though the Comets won the district tournament title, they are the district’s number two seed in the Northwest Region Tournament, which opens today. Halifax County will go on the road to face North Stafford High School at 5 p.m. in the regional tournament quarterfinals. (See separate story.)
Thursday’s win over Franklin County and the district tournament championship were a nice prize for the Comets who had lost to Franklin County in their last three meetings including last year’s district tournament championship game. Both of this season’s two regular-season games were one-run games.
“It’s big anytime you can win a district tournament championship,” said Comets coach Melanie Saunders.
“I can’t be any more proud of these kids. A lot of people didn’t think we would make it this far.
“You’ve got two strong teams that had played two one-run ballgames,” Saunders added.
“We knew our kids wanted it and we knew our kids had the heart. We came up here and tried to be very relaxed and have fun and play like we knew we could and that’s what we did. You can’t ask for anything better from any of our players.”
Saunders said the win was a good one for the team’s seniors and the team as whole, especially in light of a critical Letter To The Editor penned by Donald Oakes of Sutherlin that appeared on the newspaper’s editorial page last week.
“We had a little negativity from the outside this past week,” Saunders said.
“We were able to overcome that and come together as a team like we have always done from the beginning of the year.”
The key to the Comets’ win was their ability to jump on top early and come up with a defensive gem to shut down Franklin County after the Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the first inning.
Halifax County scored three runs in each of the first two innings to get up by the eventual final score of 6-0 with its last two runs resulting from errors from what was an unusually shaky Franklin County defense. Franklin County committed three errors in the game, two of which came in the second inning.
“I think the difference in this game (from the two previous regular-season meetings) was we jumped out very quickly with both our offense and defense,” Saunders pointed out.
“That got our team pumped up and we kept going throughout the game.”
Halifax opened the game with a hit from Stephanie Clark who scored later scored on a one-out single from Betty Rose. Lashunda Davis followed with a long single that scored Rose and a deep fly ball to right from Key Ferrell scored Davis who had gotten into scoring position by stealing third base.
Up 3-0, the Comets turned back what appeared to be an almost certain scoring opportunity for Franklin County in the bottom of the first inning. The Eagles used back-to-back hits with one out and a Comets error to load the bases with two out but the Comets got out of the jam when the Eagles’ Ashlee Washburn lofted a fly ball to left field for the Comets’ Liz Trickey to snare.
Halifax added three more runs in the second inning with Heather Hudson leading off with a single. She moved to second base on a passed ball and scored on a hit from Ally Thompson to put the Comets up 4-0.
Clark walked and moved to third base when Trickey reached base on an error that allowed Thompson to score. An error on the Franklin County catcher allowed Clark to score and put the Comets up 6-0.
From that point, the game turned into pretty much of a stalemate.
The Comets got only two hits the rest of the way and Rickman, who was facing Franklin County for the first time this season, held the Eagles to two hits in the last five innings.
Saunders was ecstatic over the effort of her sophomore hurler who yielded only four hits and two walks while fanning three batters.
“Paige pitched one of the best games I’ve seen her pitch all year,” Saunders pointed out.
“She kept the ball moving. She kept it around the plate. She was very tired the last two innings but she wanted it. She wanted to stay out there and try to pull through it. She did her job out there.”
Franklin County coach Bruce Hess agreed.
“Their pitcher had us stymied,” Hess remarked.
“She was jamming us. She did a good job of that. We put the ball into play but it was hit right at people.”
Hess said the errors and his team’s inability to score in the first inning with the bases loaded wrote the story for his team which hosts Albemarle today in a first round Northwest Region Tournament game.
“If we had gotten a couple of runs there it might have been different,” Hess said.
“You still can’t go down six runs with three errors in the first two innings. Then we shut them down and it was a different ballgame.
“They (Halifax County) hit the ball well,” Hess added.
“They played well. They’re a good ballclub and they deserved to win.
The Comets had nine hits in the game with Clark leading the way with a big 3-for-4 night at the plate and Hudson also having a big night with a big 2-for-3 effort. Rose, Davis, Ferrell and Thompson all chipped in a hit each.

Comets Face N. Stafford Today In NW Region Tourney

By Joe Chandler
Sports Editor
The Halifax County High School softball team will make its third consecutive appearance in the Northwest Region Tournament today, traveling to Stafford to face North Stafford High School in a regional tournament quarterfinal game.
In addition to this being the Comets’ third straight year of competing in the Northwest Region Tournament, this will mark the sixth time in eight years that Halifax County High School has advanced to the regional tournament.
Halifax County (17-3 overall) enters the Northwest Region Tournament as the second seed from the Western Valley District. North Stafford (19-2 overall) is the Commonwealth District champion and is that district’s top seed in the tournament.
The Comets will enter today’s game with a good shot of momentum, having downed Franklin County 6-0 Thursday in Rocky Mount to win the Western Valley District Tournament championship.
“This (winning the Western Valley District Tournament) is what we wanted and was what we needed to take us up to Northern Virginia,” Comets head coach Melanie Saunders said Thursday night after her team won the district tournament.
“Doing what we did here was the first step. We need to take this momentum and go up there (to North Stafford) and do what we’ve been doing all year long and have fun.”
North Stafford High School will enter today’s game on the heels of a 3-0 win over Albemarle in the championship game of the Commonwealth District Tournament.
Halifax County faced Albemarle during the regular season and swept Albemarle in a doubleheader in Charlottesville by scores of 7-1 and 8-3.
In North Stafford, Halifax County faces a talented team that has won both the Commonwealth District regular-season championship and the district tournament championship.
The Wolverines have two excellent pitchers, Nikki Black, who pitched in both the district tournament semifinal and championship games, and Tiffany Merrill.
Black, a junior, struck out 11 batters and allowed just one hit in the Wolverines’ 3-0 win over Mountain View in the district tournament semifinals. In the district tournament title game this past Thursday, Black fanned four batters and yielded five scattered hits.
Heading into last week’s games, Merrill had logged a 0.72 earned run average and had struck out 80 batters during the season.
North Stafford also has a good defensive player in catcher Courtney Crews. Crews threw out two base runners and made a difficult catch of a foul ball during the district tournament championship game.
“We’ve already heard North Stafford has good pitching and can hit the ball,” Saunders said.
“We’re going to have to go up there with the same intensity that we went to Franklin County with and start off like we did against Franklin County.”
The fact that North Stafford has a reputation for being a solid team is not news for the Comets. In fact, it is what is expected.
“They’re going to be tough and we know it,” Saunders pointed out.
“When you go to Northern Virginia, you know those teams are going to be very good. You know they’re going to be good at the plate. You know they’re going to be good at the mound with their pitchers and it’s not any different this year.”
Saunders says this opportunity to play in the Northwest Region Tournament is a goal the team has strived toward through the course of the season.
“We’ve been practicing all year long for this,” said the Comets’ coach.
“There is nothing else left to do. There are no drills to do,, no technique that we can work on. We’ve just got to go up there and do what we’ve been doing and what we’ve been practicing all year.
“We’ve just got to go up there with our heads on straight, play defense, play offense, hit the ball, have our pitchers work hard and, hopefully, we will be successful,” Saunders concluded.

Comets’ Ferrell Qualifies For State In Triple Jump

Marteia Ferrell set a personal best of 36 feet, four inches in the triple jump at the Northwest Regional Track Meet Friday in Charlottesville, good enough to qualify her for the upcoming state meet.
Ferrell’s effort, almost a foot better than her previous best (36’-4”), gave her a third-place finish in the regionals.
Osbourn Park won the meet with 104 points, while the Comets finished 19th with eight points.
Ferrell not only bettered her effort in the triple jump, she also finished a respectable ninth in the 100-meter hurdles.
“Marteia had decided early that she wanted to qualify for the state in the triple jump,” said Comets coach Mary Douglas.
“She knew that there were a lot of people counting on her and she wanted to qualify in one of her events.
“She finished ninth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.38, only her second time running hurdles this season.”
Comets sprinter Stacey Hamlett just missed qualifying for the state meet with a 12.84 in the 100-meter hurdles, good for seventh-place, while the the 4x400-meter relay team took almost half a minute off their previous best with a time of 4:18.75.
Both were outstanding efforts, according to Douglas.
“The 4x400-meter relay team, with Cherena Canada, Jasmine Pointer, Tyiesha Pannell and Brittany Foster, eliminated 28 seconds from their original time,” said Douglas.
“They wanted to qualify for the state in the 4x400 relay, and the automatic qualifying time was 4:00.34.
“The girls decided to try and run that time and even though they didn’t qualify, they made an amazing effort. Twenty-eight seconds is a lot of time and I’m proud of their effort.”
Northwest Region Meet
Comets Girls Times And Placings
100-Meter Dash
7. Stacey Hamlett 12.84
100-Meter Hurdles
9. Marteia Ferrell 16.38
4x100-Meter Hurdles
10. Halifax County “A” 51.20
4x400-Meter Relay
10. Halifax County “A” (Canada, Pointer, Pannell, Foster) 4:18.75
Triple Jump
3. Marteia Ferrell 36’-4”
14. Brittany Foster 34-3.75
Comets Boys Results
110-Meter Hurdles
8. Clyde Scott 15.61
300-Meter Hurdles
13. Clyde Scott 42.37