Eighteen passengers on a Greyhound bus which wrecked in Charlotte County early Sunday morning were treated for injuries at the Halifax Regional Hospital.
Six additional passengers were transported to the Southside Community Hospital in Farmville for treatment after the 5:30 a.m. incident.
The 1992 MCI passenger bus, with 28 passengers and a driver, was headed westbound on U.S. 360, three-tenths of a mile west of Rt. 631 when the wreck occurred, according to Virginia State Trooper W.P. Bowman.
The bus came to a stop approximately 2.2 miles east of the Halifax County line, police said.
Goodlow Russell Alsbrooks, 56, of Charlotte, N.C. was driving the bus when he lost control, ran into the median strip, struck a crossover, then came to a stop after the bus went airborne for 105 feet, according to the investigation. The bus did not overturn.
Damages to the bus were estimated at total of $20,000, Trooper Bowman said.
Thirteen patients at HRH were treated and released, while five patients were admitted from further treatment, according to Donna Strange, Public Relations Manager for HRH.
The first patients arrived at 7:35 a.m., with all patients receiving initial treatment by 9:30 a.m., she added.
Alsbrooks, who was not injured, was charged by Trooper Bowman with reckless driving.
A 34-year-old Crystal Hill man died after his truck crashed Saturday afternoon near his home, according to the Virginia State Police.
Tom Ivory Chandler Jr. lost control of a 1967 Ford pickup truck on Rt. 610, one-tenth of a mile west of Rt. 626, state police said.
The wreck occurred at 4:40 p.m. and Chandler was pronounced dead at the Halifax Regional Hospital at 5:57 p.m., according to the investigation.
The incident is still under investigation by Virginia State Trooper G.M. Gilliam.
Twenty-five years ago, the first antique show got underway as a fund-raiser at Halifax County Academy.
The players that year were understandably nervous, but they need not have been.
Some of those early committee members remember exploring Virginia's and North Carolina's highways in search of top flight antique dealers.
"We didn't know how the dealers would do that first year," recalled Betty Rodgers Nelson, a show chairman.
They did well.
"The first one was very successful and that was why we continued to be successful, because we did it right the first time," said Nelson.
Indeed, the old academy was packed with treasures, expensive treasures.
"Carroll and I were on the first security detail, and Johnny Burton brought his RV out and Carroll slept in that and I walked the floor in the gym," recalled Grace Seat with a laugh.
"And one dealer had a display of cuckoo clocks which cuckooed all night long," she chuckled.
And one night there was a terrible storm and the gym leaked. "I had a time getting pots and pans to catch the drops," added Seat.
Committee members and parents of students at the school also helped the dealers pack and unpack.
"When we got home at night, we were all dead tired," added the Seat security member.
Seat remembers they were all very nervous preceding the first show. "Until they started lining up at the door. And we had a mighty long line," she added, packed with shoppers anxious to be among the first inside.
"I always bought one something from each show," said Seat. "And tried to keep up the tradition at C.H. Friend."
"We were small, but we were good. We had excellent dealers and we put on an excellent show," she added.
Elizabeth Zimmerman also remembers the early show as very good.
She and her husband began exhibiting at the show after their 1976 return from Norfolk, she recalled.
"It was a buying crowd," said Elizabeth Zimmerman. "And a social thing," she added. Yet another plus remembered by more than one dealer, "The food was so good."
Grace Seat was a food committee organizer, which turned out to be a big money-maker, according to patrons remembering the show.
Zimmerman also remembers the variety, casseroles, desserts, etc.
"Some fine things were brought to those shows. Dealers wanted to be there because it was a buying crowd," added Zimmerman.
She, too, remembers the long lines waiting to get into the school for the show, days when the surrounding fields at the Centerville site were filled with vehicles carrying patrons anxious to see and buy.
"One year I had two booths at the front," recalled South Boston antique dealer Lois Harris. "I was the first one in line when you came in the door. I loved the show. There were nice things ...and there were such good dealers. It was exciting and fun."
The local dealer remembers taking mirrors, lamps, tables, a sofa, chest of drawers and oil paintings to the show. "I did the room look," she added.
By 1976, there was never a problem getting dealers. "It was an excellent show," recalled Nancy McCormick. "People looked forward to it and wanted to be there early."
Jane Carlton Confroy remembers, "When we finished one show, the planning for the next one started. It was a lot of work."
She also remembers Grace Seat, Nancy Francis and Barbara Henderson, the ones who developed the food part, a popular and lucrative feature at the event.
Overall, Confroy said it was not unusual to make $5,000 to $7,000 during the two-day antique show. That figure included booth rent from dealers, the sale of food and admission to the show.
Biggy Hunt, heading fund-raising that first year, described "good dealers" as one key to the show's success. "And there was nothing else like it around here," he added.
Hunt, whose personal interest in antiques had included ownership of two antique shops, had participated in antique shows when he lived in Northern Virginia and had contacts with dealers there.
The show idea, plus academy patrons' total commitment, led to the first event, and ultimately to the celebration of the 25th anniversary this year at C.H. Friend at South Boston. The South Boston school continued the fund-raiser after the academy closed.
Other names associated with the early academy shows included Ann Cassada, Doris Nelson, A.L. Zimmerman III, Johnny Burton, Bill Confroy, and Mrs. Jennings Shelton.
Major projects including special use permits for four or more business ventures, an application for a grant to benefit the Sutphin Road-Jewell Street area, and the Westmoreland Avenue storm water project will occupy the town of South Boston's Current Issues Committee tonight.
The committee will draft recommendations to go to Town Council next Monday night for final approval.
The Current Issues Committee will be held in the conference room next to the town manager's office, will begin at 5:30 p.m., and is open to the public.
The committee will receive requests for special use permits that will allow establishment of four new businesses in town--all four in newly annexed territory.
The permits will be for a Sonic Drive-In restaurant on Route 129, a Shoney's Restaurant on Route 48 in Riverdale, a veterinary clinic at the Centerville Shopping Center, and an expansion on the east end of Riverdale Shopping Center.
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the four applications Wednesday.
A town spokesman explained that the special use permits are necessary because all annexed land, by law, goes into the Residential-1 Zone. Later, Council is expected to adopt permanent zoning districts.
Today also, the Current Issues Committee is expected to approve an application for a CDBG grant that would be used for road, water and sewer needs, as well as some housing rehabilitation for the Sutphin Road-Jewell Street area.
The committee will receive a recommendation from Town Manager Ken McLawhorn to proceed with the design work for Westmoreland Street storm water improvements and put the project out for bid. Estimated cost is $110.000.
Other material for Current Issues Committee consideration:
*Request from Ralph Dyer to close and vacate the unopened alley lying to the rear of his residence at 300 Chalmers Street.
*Need for a resolution authorizing the Department of Corrections to provide manpower to maintain Farm Road--litter control, weeds and bushes.
*Will recommend the addition of .74 of a mile to the street system which is eligible for state highway maintenance funds.
*Request from Chief of Police Jim Hall to adopt alcoholic beverage ordinances to enable fines for violations of these ordinances to come back to the town rather than go to the state.
*Will consider choosing a new member to the Halifax County-South Boston regional library board to succeed Claudia Austin, who has resigned.
Two public hearings for conditional use permits will be held during Tuesday night's regular monthly meeting of the Halifax County Planning Commission.
The meeting will be held in the second floor public meeting room of the Mary Bethune Office Complex in Halifax. The regular meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., with the first of the two public hearings scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
Catherine Fitts has applied for a conditional use permit to operate a fast food restaurant and arcade on the southeast side of U.S. 360, one-quarter of a mile southwest of Rt. 344 near Scottsburg.
The second public hearing will involve a request by Mary Lou Pugh to operate a bed-and-breakfast inn at the "Magnolia Plantation."
The inn is located on the south side of Rt. 659 (River Road), approximately 1,400 feet east of Rt. 662 near Elmo.
In regular business, the planning commission will discuss zoning ordinance issues concerning cellular telecommunication towers, manufactured housing in R-1 zoned areas, and boundary adjustment issues.
Two people were arrested Saturday in connection with the theft of over $22,000 in payroll checks from the Love Shop office of Debbie's Staffing Service.
Jerry Lee Miller, 32, of Ridge Street in South Boston and Brad DeFord Coles, 32, of Union Church Road near Halifax were arrested while allegedly trying to cash one of the checks, according to Lt. Rick Loftis of the South Boston Police Department.
Miller was charged with felony counts of forgery and uttering, while Coles was charged with felony counts of uttering and possession of cocaine, Lt. Loftis said.
They were arrested in the parking lot of the Crestar Bank in South Boston at 1:52 p.m., according to the investigation.
Additional charges are expected to be filed against the two subjects, Lt. Loftis said.
The payroll check that Miller and Coles attempted to cash was one of 114 which were stolen from the staffing firm during a break-in which occurred sometime late Thursday night or early Friday morning, according to Major Ray Link of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department.
Entry was made to the 1027 Dan River Church Road business by subjects who broke through a rear window, according to the investigation.
Three lots of checks in sequential order were stolen. The missing lots included checks numbered 260239 through 260255; checks numbered 260258 through 260344; and checks numbered 2600569 through 260577, police said.
The checks, which totaled $22,531.72, were on the payroll account of Debbie's Staffing Services and were drawn on the BB&T (Branch Bank and Trust) of Winston-Salem, N.C., according to the investigation.
Miller and Coles were arrested while in the drive-thru lane of the downtown Crestar Bank, ironically, a facility that shares a parking lot with the South Boston Police Department.
The two subjects were in a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina which they had rented from Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Lt. Loftis said.
Participating in their arrest at the scene were Lt. Loftis; Virginia State Trooper M.S. Roark Jr.; SBPD officers Dennis Barker and Patrick Murphy; and Deputies Keith Tribble and Keith Redd of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department.
Coles and Miller are currently being held in the Halifax County Jail under bonds of $10,000 each. They are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the Halifax County General District Court on March 16.
Larry Daniel Scott, 40, of Alphonse Dairy Road, just east of Riverdale, was arrested on February 16 for grand larceny from the Super 8 Motel.
Scott allegedly grabbed over $200 from the cash register of the motel on February 14, according to Lt. Rick Loftis of the South Boston Police Department.
Scott allegedly distracted a motel clerk at 1:09 a.m., jumped behind the counter and grabbed money from the cash register, according to the investigation.
He did not display a weapon or threaten the clerk during the incident, police said.
Scott is currently being held in the Halifax County Jail pending his preliminary hearing in the Halifax County General District Court on April 20.
He was arrested after an investigation by SBPD Officer Randy Redd.
In other arrests:
· Wendy Wright Beard, 33, of Halifax was arrested Saturday on two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and failure to obey a law enforcement officer.
The incident occurred Saturday and she was arrested by Halifax County Sheriff's Deputy S.A. Jennings.
Beard is being held in the Halifax County Jail pending her trial in the Halifax County General District Court on April 4.
· Edward Allen Walters, 33, of Buffalo Junction was arrested Saturday on a indictment for felony possession of cocaine, police said.
The alleged incident occurred on February 14, 1997 and he was arrested by Narcotics Investigator J.W. Binner of the Tri-County Regional Drug Task Force.
Walters was arrested in the Hillcrest Trailer Court after a tip from a concerned citizen to the sheriff's department, police said.
Earlier, agents of the task force searched two rooms of the Days Inn Motel across U.S. 58 from the trailer court, also because of tips, police said.
"Boats," the drug-sniffing dog handled by Correctional Officer Sherwood Forlines, apparently discovered drug paraphernalia and drugs in a duffel bag in one of the rooms, according to Major Ray Link of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department.
Walters is being held in the Halifax County jail pending his preliminary hearing in the Halifax County General District Court.
Halifax County Sheriff Jeff Oakes commended concerned citizens and staff of the Days Inn for their cooperation.
King David Wells of Washington, DC, formerly of Halifax , died Monday, February 16, 1998 at D.C. General in Washington at the age of 67.
Mr. Wells was born in Halifax County on April 18, 1930.
Survivors include four daughters, Roberta and Silvia Wells and Sandy Ferrell, all of Washington, and Robin Wells of Halifax; four sons, King Davis Wells Jr. of Halifax, Robert, William and Warren Walls, all of Washington; 26 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; his mother, Melissie Crews of Halifax; nine sisters, Mamie Tucker, Florine Edmonds, Frances Leigh, Marie Leigh and Martha Lawson, all of Halifax, Sally Edmonds and Martha Chappell, both of Washington, Nanny Woods of Hartford, CT and Mary Jackson of Albany, NY; three brothers, Melvin Wells of Baltimore, MD, John Crews of Bridgeport, CT and George Crews of Halifax; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Wells were held Saturday, February 21 at 2 p.m.
at New Arbor Baptist Church with Rev. J. Michael Nelson officiating. Burial
was in the church cemetery.
Chalmers Lee Brown of 6046 Clays Mill Road, Scottsburg died Friday, February 20, 1998 at Medical College of Virginia. He was 60 years of age at the time of his death.
Mr. Brown was born in Greene County, GA on October 23, 1937 the son of Chalmers Lee Brown and Alpha Greeson Brown Peppers and was married to Sarah Powell Brown. He was retired from Virginia Department of Corrections Camp 23.
Survivors include his wife; three sons, Derek Brown of Scottsburg, Duane Brown of Nathalie and Damon Brown of Richmond; his mother of Auburn, GA; three brothers, Hugh Clyde Brown of Greensboro, GA, Charles Arthur 'Ottie' Brown of Tucker, GA and Joseph Goodwin Brown of Oxford, NC.
Funeral services for Mr. Brown were held Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m.
at Powell Funeral Home chapel with Rev. Tony Brooks officiating. Burial
was in Halifax Memorial Gardens.
Margaret Gravitt Ray of 1080 Seven Oaks Drive, South Boston died Saturday, February 21, 1998 at the home of her son, Scott Ray. She was 89 years of age.
Mrs. Ray was born in Halifax County on April 24, 1908 the daughter of James M. Gravitt and Mary Long Gravitt and was married to Kermit Lucias Ray. She was a member of Cedar Grove United Methodist Church.
Survivors include four sons, Lucias Ray of Richmond, Ira M. Ray of Buffalo Junction and Scott B. Ray and Douglas M. Ray, both of South Boston; two daughters, Beatrice Ray Sadler of South Boston and Dianne Ray Conner of Burlington, NC; one sister, Mrs. Bailey Gravitt Lloyd of Bedford; 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services for Mrs. Ray will be held today, February 23 at 2 p.m. at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery with Rev. Harvey Warnick conducting the service.
Frances Mason Jennings of Brookneal died Sunday, February 22 at Halifax Regional Hospital. She was 76 years of age.
Mrs. Jennings was born in Campbell County on August 14, 1921 the daughter of Daniel B. Mason and Myrtle Buntin Mason and was married to Albert Lee Jennings. She was a member of Falling River Baptist Church.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 24 at Falling River Baptist Church by Rev. William D. Mills with burial to follow at Childrey Baptist Church Cemetery.
Survivors of Mrs. Jennings include one son, Kenneth J. Jennings of Lynchburg; two daughters, Nancy J. Holt of Nathalie and Bonnie J. Singleton of Gladys; three brothers, Casper Mason of Arlington, D.B. Mason of Phenix, and James Mason of Gladys; two sisters, Lois Bentley and Gladys Wade, both of Brookneal; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 tonight, February 23 at Henderson Funeral Home, and will be at her daughter's home, Nancy Holt, Acorn Road, Nathalie, other times.