Cuts Are Coming

Halifax County School Board trustees will meet today at noon in a work session to address the proposed $61,890,099 budget for 2007-08.
School system staff had originally proposed a $62,884,101 budget for the next fiscal year, including $14,236,432 in local monies.
Supervisors approved a total of $13,242,430 in local monies, including an additional $250,000 which supervisors requested be spent in the area of instruction, according to Superintendent Paul Stapleton.
Stapleton told trustees at Monday’s monthly meeting that staff would have a proposal before them at today’s work session to cut the budget almost $1 million.
With mandatory expenditures in place in this year’s budget, including a three percent pay raise for school system employees and an increase in payments to the Virginia Retirement System, trustees will have to make some difficult decisions today.
Stapleton has told trustees that the only options for balancing the budget are closing schools, cutting programs or cutting personnel.
Halifax County Public Schools CFO Bill Covington said yesterday that staff is still preparing recommendations for ways to make required cuts in order to balance the budget recently approved by supervisors.
“The work session will begin [trustees’] analysis of staff recommendations,” he added.
Trustees also set a special end of the year meeting for June 25, scheduled for the STEM Center at 7:30 p.m., to wrap up the 2006-07 fiscal year.
Covington said Monday that “trends looked favorable” to close out June in good fashion, adding that two additional payrolls were due this month.
“I believe we’ll finish the [fiscal] year in good shape,” said Covington.
Retirements And
Recognitions
Trustees honored 20 school system personnel who have announced their retirement this year.
Stapleton said the retirees have had a tremendous impact on as many as three generations of youth in Halifax County, while Deputy Superintendent Larry Clark noted that the children of the county have been the biggest benefactors of their efforts.
Retiring are Chester “Dewey” Compton, Carol L. Conner, Martha O. Flinn, Cheryl M. Glascock, Mary Ann Pool and Lawrence T. Wilkerson from Halifax County Middle School.
Also retiring are Miriam P. Blackstock, Wanda Crenshaw and Patricia A. Drumwright from Clay’s Mill Elementary School, and Janet H. Blevins and Paula E. Sullivan, at Scottsburg Elementary School.
Barbara C. Speece and Mary Eleanor C. Priest from the Central Office staff have announced their retirement, as have Betty N. Church and Marion C. Vanselette from Halifax Elementary School.
Steve B. Smith from the Maintenance Division, Carol E. Howerton from Halifax County High School, and Bernice J. Jennings from Sydnor-Jennings, Patricia Hawks from C.H. Friend and Ann C. Murray from Turbeville elementary schools are retiring.
Trustees recognized Halifax County High School teacher Debbie Faulkner for being named Virginia’s Outstanding Earth Science Teacher of the Year.
Faulkner also received the same honor for the Eastern Section of the United States, according to Supervisor for Secondary Instruction Frosty Owens.
Owens and Halifax County High School history teacher David Riddle presented high school students Emily Martin and Priscilla Fisher with plaques as recipients of Lee-Jackson Scholarships.
The scholarships, sponsored by the Lee-Jackson Foundation of Charlottesville, are awarded in each of Virginia’s eight school regions to juniors or seniors submitting the best essays on the career, character or some other aspect of the life of either Robert E. Lee or Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.

Turn Off Or Turn In

A Halifax County School Board committee studying cell phone policy has recommended a new set of guidelines for the 2007-2008 school year.
Trustees agreed to wait 30 days before voting on the proposed cell phone policy at their July meeting for implementation in August.
Committee members Steve Anderson, Sandra Rister and Arthur Reynolds presented the proposed policy to fellow trustees at Monday’s monthly School Board meeting.
Among the recommended policy changes is a requirement that students turn their cell phones off prior to entering a school building and keep them turned off during the school day.
Cell phones must be kept in a vehicle, locker, backpack or purse, and are not to be kept anywhere on a student’s person, according to the proposed policy.
The policy states that if a student violates the preceding, the cell phone will be confiscated by a teacher or building administrator
The student will be issued a letter advising the parent/legal guardian that the phone has been confiscated and the student will no longer be allowed to have a cell phone in the school building.
Delivery of the letter is the student’s responsibility, emphasized Anderson.
The cell phone will be held by the principal until a parent/legal guardian reports in person to receive the cell phone and sign a statement acknowledging that he/she has received the phone and is aware of the school’s recourse in the event of repeated violations.
A second violation of the proposed policy will result in a three-day suspension, and a third violation of the policy would result in a ten-day suspension.
The fourth violation of the policy would result in a recommendation for long-term suspension or expulsion.
Committee chairman Anderson said the committee circulated a questionnaire among high school and middle school teachers to get their input and guidance on the issue.
“We had a significant response and got a good perspective of where teachers are coming from on this issue,” said Anderson.
Responses to the questionnaire suggested that the technology of text messaging and Internet photography can result in students cheating on tests, or relaying sexually explicit messages or photos to others, according to Anderson.
The policy is comprehensive, covering school children from kindergarten-12th grade, said Anderson, whose committee considered an overall ban for cell phones on school property before coming up with the proposed policy.
Anderson said that since the 2007-2008 Student Code of Conduct booklets have already been printed, the cell phone policy, if adopted, would be distributed separately as an addendum to the Code of Conduct.

Filing Deadline Draws Additional Candidates

The sheriff’s race and at least two battles for school board seats were on tap yesterday as the 7 p.m. filing deadline to be on the November ballot approached.
Two previously empty School Board slates also were filled, one in ED-1 where Devin Snead is seeking retiring trustee Douglas Fisher’s seat, and one in ED-8, with Walter Potts seeking retiring trustee Kelly Hill’s seat.
In ED-5, Mattie Claiborne Cowan confirmed her interest in a bid for former School Board Trustee Nancylee Bagwell’s seat. Bagwell could not be reached for comment at 6:30 p.m. press time.
In ED 4, Joe Gasperini announced Sunday that he is challenging incumbent School Board trustee Joe Bailey, and in ED-7, Stuart Comer is challenging incumbent Sandra Rister.
In other races, all five supervisors seeking re-election in the November election have qualified to be placed on the ballott, Halifax County Registrar said last week. They are R.E. “Dickie” Abbott, ED-1; Doug Bowman, ED-4; James Edmunds II, ED-5; Lottie Nunn, ED-7; Bryant Claiborne, ED-8.
In the sheriff’s race, Stanley Noblin and Jeff Oakes have qualified in a bid for that office.
Halifax County Clerk of Court Bobby Conner, Commonwealth’s Attorney Kim White, Halifax County Treasurer Linda Foster and Commissioner of the Revenue Brenda Powell have all qualified.

Luther Jackson Sr.
Luther Jackson Sr., 77, of 1051 Quarles School Trail, Nathalie died June 9, 2007, at The Woodview.
Mr. Jackson was born in Halifax County June 25, 1929, to the late Samuel Jackson and Lucy Palmer Jackson and was married to the late Willie Marie Miller Jackson. He was a member of Brown’s Memorial Church of God in Christ.
Survivors include four daughters, Deborah Sydnor, Claire Jennings and Frances Jackson, all of Nathalie and Peggy Hankins of South Boston; three sons, Luther Jackson Jr. of Halifax, Samuel Jackson of Clover and Michael Jackson of Hampton; 14 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; seven sisters, Virginia Ewell and Mary Eldridge, both of Baltimore, Md., Laverne Faulkner and Joanne Coles, both of Alexandria, Catherine Chandler of Halifax, Marion Clements of Nathalie and Evelyn Jennings of Crystal Hill; and one brother, Carl Jackson of Nathalie.
One sister, Lucy Chambers and one brother, Willie H. Jackson, preceded Mr. Jackson in death.
Funeral services will be held June 15, at 2 p.m. at Crystal Hill Baptist Church with Elder William E. Mosby Jr. officiating. Burial will follow at Brown’s Memorial Church of God in Christ.
Public viewing will be tomorrow, June 14, at Crawford House Chapel in Halifax from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The family is receiving friends at the home.
Barbara Ann Glasscock Parker
Barbara Ann Glasscock Parker, 76, of LaCrosse died June 2, 2007, at Henrico Doctor’s Hospital in Richmond. She was the daughter of the late Henry Glasscock and Bertha Glasscock of Halifax County, and the widow of Simon Edward Parker.
Funeral services for Mrs. Parker were held June 4 at Crowder, Hite and Crews Funeral Home in South Hill. Burial was in Virgilina Cemetery.
Survivors include one daughter, Bonnie P. Johnston and husband, Donnie, of Bowie, Md.; one son, Michael Wayne Parker and wife, Sara, of LaCrosse; two brothers, David Glasscock and wife, Audrey, of LaCrosse, and Sam Glasscock and wife, Mildred, of Brodnax; eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider LaCrosse Fire Department, P.O. Box 38, LaCrosse, 23950, or Southside Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 546, South Hill, 23970.

Phebe Roberts Ward
A graveside memorial service for Phebe Roberts Ward will be held at Dan River Baptist Church June 16, at 11 a.m.
She was born September 11, 1915, in Halifax County and died at her home in Annapolis, Md. on December 16, 2006.

Road Racing Legends Attend VIR Homecoming

By Doug Ford
G-V Staff WRiter
Dr. Dick Thompson, aka the “Flying Dentist” is a well-known icon in road racing circles.
Motorsports journalist Chris Economaki, who has covered road racing around the world, can also make that claim.
Both have connections to VIR and both were present last weekend at VIR’s Gold Cup Historic Races and 50th anniversary celebration.
Thompson, know primarily for driving Corvettes and sometimes Porsches, won five Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) championships between 1956-1962.
He drove both at VIR’s opening weekend, winning a “B” Production heat race in a Corvette and taking third in a Porsche Carrera GT in the F Sports Class, with the same finishes in both feature events.
Thompson finished fourth overall and in his class driving a Jaguar in the 24-lap feature race, behind Carroll Shelby, Walt Hansgen and Charles Wallace.
Economaki has long been a fixture in reporting on the auto racing scene.
He was the announcer for the feature race at VIR during the track’s opening weekend in 1957, the one in which Shelby finished first and Thompson fourth.
Thompson admitted to being both impressed and a little frightened when he first saw VIR.
“Of course, I’d never seen it before and it was very impressive, scary as a matter of fact,” said Thompson.
“There were a bunch of trees on the outside of one turn and going down the main straightaway, you could see all of the farms off into the distance and wondered if the brakes would hold.
“I thought that I may end up down there.”
VIR was strictly a bare bones facility when it first opened, according to Thompson, including the track itself and a couple of outhouses.
He said he always preferred road racing as opposed to oval track racing, simply for the different turns and changes in variation in road racing.
That’s why he loves VIR, he noted.
“I like road racing, there’s more to do than in oval track racing,” said Thompson, who thinks the reincarnated VIR track would still be a good track for him.
“There’s something different for every turn and it’s more of a challenge,” he explained.
“In oval track racing, if you get into a routine you’re all set, but there isn’t a routine on a road course.”
Economaki quoted an old Latin saying in explaining the difference between fans of oval track and road racing.
“You like chocolate, I like vanilla, and we can argue all we want, but we still like what we like,” said Economaki.
“Road racing appeals to a certain type of person, oval track racing appeals to a certain type of person, and the two don’t mix.
“There’s a natural difference between choice “A” and choice “B”. Not that one is any better than the other, you do what’s most comfortable with and what you enjoy the most.
“The mindset is entirely different.”
Economaki pointed out another major difference in the two forms of racing.
“In oval track racing, the driver wins the race, he goes down in the corner and races somebody side by side, wheel to wheel in the turns.
“In road racing, since Riverside Raceway went away with its No. 9 turn where you could race side by side, there’s not a turn in the world in road racing where you can run along side somebody on the outside without losing your shirt.
“So, the car wins the races in road racing, it out-accelerates the other car, out ‘straightaways’ the other car or out brakes the other car.
“The driver doesn’t get involved in racing anybody side by side the way they do in oval track racing.”
That’s the problem that Danica Patrick faces now, according to Economaki.
“She’s a very good driver, but she’s not comfortable beside somebody in the corner, because she didn’t grow up that way,” he pointed out.
“Road racers get in line to go through the turns. Now, she finds there’s someone on her left bumper, but I think she’s overcoming that.”
In addition, pre-race and post-race activities are different for oval track and road racing,” said Economaki.
“Coming [to VIR] in 1957, it was the first road race that I ever announced, and the sports car people were a new breed to me, very upscale and very educated,” he recalled.
Much has changed since then, both in the money involved and the marketing aspects of both road and oval track racing, but road racing maintains the culture of competition and camaraderie it always has.
Both men would probably agree with that.

Post 8 Still Seeks Players

The South Boston American Legion Post 8 baseball team is still seeking players for this season.
Any players interested in playing on the Post 8 team are urged to contact Post 8 manager Will Hill at 349-6162 as soon as possible.
Hill said yesterday that more players are needed if Post 8 is to field a team this season.
The Post 8 manager said he does not have enough players firmly committed at this point to fill a lineup. A decision will have to be made this week as to whether or not Post 8 will be able to field a team this season.
The South Boston Post 8 team is scheduled to play New River Valley Post 68 Saturday at 3 p.m. in a nine-inning contest.
Post 8’s first two scheduled games were postponed because of a shortage of players. Makeup dates for those games have not been set.

Former Comets Earn DCC Baseball Honors

Three Halifax County residents helped propel the Danville Community College Knights Baseball Team to its third state championship.
Ryan Roller of Scottsburg and Chris Perkins and Tyler Clarke, both of South Boston, were among the team members recently recognized at the Danville Community College 2007 Awards and Recognition Banquet.
Perkins, an Information Systems Technology - Computer Programming major, was named to the All Tournament Team, All Conference First Team, and Second Team All Conference. He also shared the Most Valuable Player award and received the Coach’s Award and the Academic Award for his 3.95 grade point average.
Clarke, an Administration of Justice—Law Enforcement Specialization major, was named to All Conference First Team .
Roller, a Precision Machining Technology major, received Honorable Mention for Second Team All Conference.
In addition to awards given to the Knights baseball team, head coach John Bailey was honored with the Coach of the Year award.
Bailey was assisted this season by Dale Nelson and Brad Bailey, both Assistant Coaches, and by Nancy Taylor, DCC Baseball Club Sports Advisor.