RALEIGH (AP) - Tobacco states would slice up a $5.15 billion trust fund for farmers according to the 1998 basic quota under a tentative agreement the states reached Thursday and presented to cigarette makers.
North Carolina, the largest flue-cured tobacco state, and Kentucky, the biggest burley tobacco producer, would get the biggest shares under the proposal - 38.34 percent and 29.97 percent, respectively, sources told The Associated Press.
''We want this family of tobacco growers to stay together,'' said Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton.
He said Phil Carlton, the lawyer for four largest U.S. tobacco 
companies, would prepare a final draft of the proposed agreement, 
and the states' representatives would meet again to discuss it.
About 70 people met behind closed doors at a Raleigh hotel to work out the settlement.
The private trust fund was created last month by tobacco-growing states and cigarette-makers as part of the landmark $206 billion settlement between the tobacco industry and 46 states. The fund's purpose is to aid tobacco farmers, sure to be squeezed by the higher cigarette prices and curbs on tobacco promotion that are part of the deal.
The trust fund will be financed by contributions over 12 years by Philip Morris Cos., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. The payments could begin as early as April.
The deal will use the 1998 basic quota set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for apportioning the money, said North Carolina Attorney General Mike Easley and other officials.
''It's the most equitable way and what our farm groups want here. All states come out pretty much even with that,'' Easley said.
Burley's share of the basic quota was 44 percent in 1998; flue-cured tobacco farmers got the other 56 percent, according to the U.S. Farm Service Agency. Using that formula to divide the trust fund money, burley states would get $2.256 billion and flue-cured states, $2.892 billion.
The sources said North Carolina would get 38.34 percent of the money; Kentucky, 29.97 percent; Tennessee, 7.65 percent; South Carolina, 7.01 percent; Virginia, 6.65 percent; and Georgia, 5.91 percent.
The other tobacco quota states will receive less than 5 percent, based on their 1998 basic quotas. Maryland and Pennsylvania tobacco farmers are not part of the quota system, and their shares of the settlement still must be worked out, the sources said.
Burley-tobacco states and states that grow flue-cured tobacco entered Thursday's meeting at odds over how to divide up the trust fund money. Each backed formulas that favored their crop.
Danny McKinney, chief executive officer of Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative in Lexington, Ky., said Kentucky wanted to apportion the money according to how much each state would lose under quota cuts between 1998 to 1999. Under that formula, burley growers would lose 220 million pounds, and flue-cured tobacco growers, 140 million pounds.
''But we thought that would be very complicated and argumentative. So we said, 'Let's just use '98,' the one (season) we just finished,'' McKinney said.
He said South Carolina and Virginia officials wanted to base the formula on an average of the quotas set for the past several years. Officials had said before the meeting that such a formula would have favored flue-cured tobacco states.
''But our governor (Patton) held very strongly that if we weren't going to use '98, then we should go back and use lost revenue,'' McKinney said.
He said each state must work out how to distribute the money to the farmers and how much goes to quota owners, tenants who work tobacco acreage and lessees.
''When it leaves here and goes back to the state level, that's when the civil war starts,'' he said. ''It's going to get pretty hateful pretty darn quick.''
Major tobacco states involved in setting up the trust fund were Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Other involved were Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Alabama and Ohio.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Agriculture and health organizations,  bitter foes in the past over tobacco legislation, are lobbying together for bills designed to aid tobacco growers and discourage teen smoking.
Companion bills pending in Senate and House of Delegates  committees would earmark half of Virginia's share of the multi-state tobacco settlement for programs to help farmers cope with reduced tobacco quotas and demand.
Ten percent of the money would be spent to prevent youth tobacco use. The bills do not address how the remaining 40 percent would be spent, leaving that decision for another time.
Virginia expects to receive up to $4 billion over 25 years from the $206 billion deal, which tobacco companies accepted to settle states' lawsuits to recover smoking-related health care costs.
Del. Whittington W. Clement, D-Danville and sponsor of the House version of the bill, said health and agriculture groups in Virginia are working in ''unprecedented cooperation'' to address each other's concerns.
Health advocates agreed.
''This unique partnership can meet the challenge of saving our children from the health risks of smoking, while saving Virginia's tobacco farming communities from the risks of financial devastation,'' said Joy Bechtold, assistant director of advocacy for the American Cancer Society.
The American Heart Association, Concerned Friends for Tobacco, the National Black Farmers Association and the Virginia Farm Bureau also endorsed the legislation.
''We feel like as growers, we are a victim of what has taken place with the tobacco settlement,'' Clarence Bryant, a tobacco farmer and president of Concerned Friends of Tobacco, said Wednesday at a Capitol news conference.
Tobacco is Virginia's No. 1 cash crop, with 1997 receipts of $188 million. Tobacco was grown in 47 counties on about 8,400 farms in '97, according to a Virginia Tech study.
The legislation, sponsored by Clement and Sen. Charles Hawkins, R-Pittsylvania, would establish a 19-member commission to administer a trust fund to compensate tobacco farmers for their economic losses and to help them find alternative crops.
Clement said it is important to establish a trust fund to prevent politicians from siphoning off the money for other purposes.
Gov. Jim Gilmore has said he wants Virginia to use its tobacco settlement money to assist growers, create a health fund for children, provide community-based treatment for the mentally ill, pay for anti-smoking programs and finance transportation and education projects.
The governor has taken no position on the Clement-Hawkins legislation, Gilmore spokesman Mark Miner said.

RALEIGH (AP) - A state Senate committee urged approval of a plan Wednesday to establish a foundation to oversee half the $4.6 billion that will pour into the state from a national tobacco settlement.
The foundation plan, drawn up by Attorney General Mike Easley and approved as part of a consent decree, is intended to help communities harmed by the anticipated decline in demand for tobacco resulting from the landmark $206 billion settlement reached last November.
The consent decree gives the General Assembly until March 15 to accept or reject the foundation proposal. If lawmakers reject the plan, all the state's money from the tobacco settlement would go to a fund controlled by the Legislature.
A Wake County judge issued a consent decree in December that says half the $4.6 billion North Carolina will get over the next 25 years must go to the foundation. Health groups have been pushing to get a share of the other half of the money, which isn't committed and will go into another state fund controlled by the Legislature. The first payment of $56 million is expected in April.
Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, the bill's sponsor, said putting all the money into the hands of lawmakers would be a mistake.
''The question is whether you are better off taking direct political involvement out of it?'' said Rand, minutes after the Senate select committee approved the proposal.
Rand and other Senate leaders envision the foundation board using the money and the interest it generates to encourage economic development in areas hit hard by the decline in tobacco revenues.
The foundation would have 15 board members. Five would be appointed by the governor, five by the speaker of the state House and five by the president pro tem of the state Senate.
Critics have questioned whether such an arrangement will really remove politics from the equation.
''I'm very concerned about the nature of the foundation board and how it is to be selected. I think it has a lot of potential for abuse, pork-barrel spending and political favoritism,'' said John Hood, executive director of the conservative John Locke Foundation. ''There will be politics about where the money goes. The only question is whether the politics is played out publicly or privately.''
Hood also criticized the entire concept of using the money to help tobacco-dependent communities, noting the settlement was based on the premise that smoking had increased the amount taxpayers spent on Medicaid.
Instead, the money should be used to finance the state's portion of the Medicaid program, he said.
Lawmakers at Wednesday's meeting were more concerned about the consent decree's lack of parameters than about how the foundation can spend the money.
Sen. Betsy Cochrane, R-Davie, also questioned how its members would decide which communities would qualify for the money.
Rand responded that all of those decisions would be left up to the foundation. Lawmakers can only approve or disapprove the agreement, not amend it, he said.
Easley, while addressing lawmakers, said the foundation approach offers the best opportunity to help communities whose economies are hurt by an expected decline in the tobacco industry.
''We need to create some options for these communities, and therein comes the need for the foundation,'' he said.
Other speakers at the meeting included Tom Lambert of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and Bill Friday, former president of the University of North Carolina system.
Lambert said the foundation could be an ''influence for good for generations and generations.''
Friday said such a foundation could ''put some sunshine'' on issues like childhood poverty.
The committee's action came one day before tobacco state officials were scheduled to meet in Raleigh to discuss how to divide $5.15 billion that tobacco companies have agreed to give to tobacco states to aid farmers affected by the settlement.

State Police filed a trio of charges against a truck driver whose tractor-trailer rig was rammed a by a car early yesterday morning on Route 58.
Trooper D.J. Cline charged 45-year-old Alvin C. Alston of Ebony with reckless driving, operating a trailer with no right side marker lights, and having an expired registration in the wake of the 6:45 a.m. mishap that occurred on Route 58, a half a mile west of the intersection of Route 836 (Scale Road).
The driver of the car, 31-year-old Shelia C. Davis, received minor injuries in the crash that destroyed her auto.
Trooper Cline stated that Alston had picked up a load in New York and was delivering it to the Dollar General distribution center on Route 58 when the crash occurred.
According to Trooper Cline, Alston missed the location of the road leading to the Dollar General facility,and, after having made contact with another motorist on his CB radio and learning he had passed the road, Alston attempted to make a U turn in order to get headed in the right direction.
"He attempted to turn the truck around and was sideways in the road without having any marker lights on the right side of the trailer," Trooper Cline stated.
Davis, who was driving along Route 58 in the misting early morning rain, didn't see the tractor-trailer rig until she was right up on it.
The trooper said that Davis locked her brakes but was not able to stop in time to avoind crashing into the side of the tractor-trailer rig.
"She never saw it until she was right up on it," Trooper Cline pointed out.
"She hit the brakes and slid into it."
Davis' vehicle crashed into the fuel tank of the truck, knocking it loose from the rig.
Both of the front seat airbags in Davis' car deployed upon impact.
Trooper Cline noted that Davis was a lucky woman in that her car struck the rig's fuel tank instead of hitting the rear of the trailer.
"If she had hit the rear of the trailer and the car had gone underneath it, it would probably have killed her," he said.
The 1988 model foreign made car driven by Davis was declared a total loss with damage estimated at $6,000.
An estimated $1,000 damage was done to the 1986 model tractor-trailer rig driven by Alston.

The Halifax Educational Foundation, the organization driving the new Continuing Education Center proposals, will ask South Boston Town Council Monday night to waive 1998 real estate taxes for the CEC in the amount of $1,088.32.
The town, in turn, has suggested that the Foundation work with Halifax Delegate Ted Bennett to apply for future exemption under the State Code.
Council's Finance Committee has discussed this issue but has made no recommendation.
Also relative to real estate taxes, Council is expected to heed a Finance Committee recommendation and ask Finance Director Vandie Saunders to continue efforts to collect delinquent real estate taxes from 1995.
Saunders has reported a total uncollected amount of $11,250, a 99.1 percent collection rate.
Also having to do with money, the South Boston staff and the Current Issues Committee are recommending that the town's Enterprise Zone Loan Program be amended to increase the repayment terms from 10 to 15 years on loans over $150,000.
And Council is almost certain to approve a Current Issues Committee recommendation waiving the $150 rezoning fee in annexed areas through July 1, 1999.
One of the weighty matters before Council Monday night will be the oft-mentioned new traffic signal light on U. S. Route 501 at the south entrance to Halifax Square Shopping Center--the site of numerous vehicle collisions and at least one fatality.
Both the South Boston and Halifax County Transportation Safety Commissions have endorsed the installation of this light.
A VDOT study of the site concluded that the traffic signal is warranted. VDOT was in the planning stages of installing this signal, before annexation, at an estimated cost of $100,000 to $125,000, with the Shopping Center owners being required to fund the project--either by agreement or through a legal process initiated by VDOT.
The town's Current Issues Committee has discussed this issue and will recommend applying for a VDOT grant to fund up to 90 percent of the cost, with the Shopping Center owners required to pay the local share of 10 percent.
If the grant is not funded the owners would be required to pay 100 percent of the installation, a town spokesman said.
It could be more than two years before bids are advertised, town records indicate. This would mean applying for a grant in June of 1999, federal funds available in October 2000 and advertising bids in spring 2001.Council will make three apppointments Monday night and recommend a fourth to the Judge of Halifax County Circuit Court for approval.
Council's recommended list is this:
Kenneth Cassada, to the Halifax County Economic Development Council.
Ms. Melba Crews and Ms. Fran Gardiner, to four-year terms on the Halifax County Improvement Council.
Council will recommend to Halifax County Circuit Court the appointment of Billy Clark to a new five-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals; Clark now is filling a vacancy on this Board.

BOWLING GREEN, Va. - William Bolecek tosses another 50-pound bale of hay from the back of his battered brown pickup to his hungry herd of Black Angus cattle. He gingerly straightens his 84-year-old body and thinks about the past - and future.
The bales feel twice as heavy as they did a decade ago, and their weight grows each year.
''At my age, I might not be able to feed any cows after this year,'' Bolecek said, pensively rubbing his calloused, windburned hands. ''After I'm gone, I don't know who is going to do the work. I am not able to like I used to.''
After 80 years in the Bolecek family, the fate of the 150-acre Caroline County farm is uncertain. Bolecek isn't sure who will take over when he can no longer handle the work.
That's a familiar story across Virginia, where three-quarters of all farmers are over 55. What happens to their land after they retire or die will determine whether the state's agricultural legacy extends into the next century, is lost in a tangle of weeds or is swept under subdivisions and shopping malls.
Bill Dickinson, the state's assistant commissioner of agriculture, said farming is important because of its contribution to Virginia's economy. Agriculture accounts for 10 percent of the jobs in Virginia and 11 percent of the Gross State Product.
If we don't work to build that contribution from agriculture, the economy will not grow as fast and will not be as diversified,''  Dickinson said.
And agriculture has aesthetic benefits as well, he said. ''Most people, particularly in urban areas, really love the green space around their cities. If we do not work to keep people in agriculture and make it profitable, that green space is going to disappear...'' Dickinson said.
But most of the scenarios for the future of agriculture are not promising. Some aging farmers are struggling to find someone to take over their life's' work. Farming often doesn't add up in today's economy. There are much easier - and much more lucrative - career options for this and future generations.
''They may make an attempt to come back and live the bucolic life of the rural country,'' said David Kohl, Virginia Tech professor of agriculture and applied economics. ''But we really can't live the life of the farm as it was in the 1930s or 1940s. The legacy cannot be carried on as we knew it because it is changing as the horizon changes.''
Descendants who are willing to take over the farm may not have the knowledge or expertise to maintain a profitable operation. Kohl says many Virginia farms are heading into the final stage of what he calls the ''three-generation syndrome.''
''The first generation makes it, the second generation holds it, and the third generation loses it,'' he said. ''The last generation gets it too easily and does not go through the trials and tribulations the first two generations went through to hold it.''
And government policies toward farmers are making it more difficult to stay in business. Cuts in farm subsidy and loan programs, combined with the reality of soaring property values, often make farming a poor investment.
''Farmers don't think about selling land until the value is so humongous that it makes no sense to farm it,'' said Ray Simms, the extension agent in Spotsylvania County. ''When land prices go up to $3,000 or $5,000 per acre, no farmer in his right mind would farm it. You just can't make that much.''
In all of these cases, the number of farms in transition is ballooning. Seventy percent of the state's farmland is expected to change hands over the next 15 years.
But state agriculture experts are looking for ways to preserve farms. They want to create an information clearinghouse that would help young farmers team up with retiring farmers and offer resources and information about agriculture. The transition center would help keep land in production and ensure that farmers, young and old, are kept informed and financially stable.
< B>---<P>
William Bolecek's father was sandblasting rusty bathtubs for a living in Pittsburgh when he fell ill from the toxic dust. His doctors told him to get some fresh air quickly. So around 1918, he headed south with his wife and three young children in search of ''the country.''
He found it at Hunter's Hill, an old Caroline County fox-hunting plantation. The rickety old house was torn down and the Czechoslovakian immigrants built themselves a new one. At the age of 8, William Bolecek went to work in his father's fields, helping with the crops and cattle even though his legs were too short to reach the tractor pedals.
During the Depression, the young Bolecek worked in New York City for almost two years until his father had an accident and needed his help back on the farm. The only other time he has spent away from the homestead was a four-year stint in the Army Air Corps maintaining fighter planes in Europe during World War II.
After the war, he married his long-waiting girlfriend and began farming his father's land while working as a pipe fitter at the FMC cellophane plant in Spotsylvania County. After his parents passed away almost 30 years ago, Bolecek continued raising crops and animals, with sometimes as many as 90 head of cattle grazing in the green fields around the gaping silage and hay barns.
For 35 years he rotated eight-hour morning, afternoon and night shifts at FMC, then hurried home to tend his crops and cows. He retired from FMC in 1976, but still keeps about 40 head, selling the calves at the Madison livestock exchange. ''
''I just went on working, though I wasn't getting paid every other week,'' he said. Bolecek considers his good health a blessing, but as he ages, the colder weather has cut down on the time he spends in the fields. ''Years ago, the weather didn't make a difference,'' he said. ''Now, I just go out to do what I have to do.''

The Free Lance-Star is published in Fredericksburg

Texas Preston Harris of 1017 First Street, South Boston died Sunday, January 31, 1999 at his home.
Mr. Harris was born August 1, 1957 in South Boston the son of Willie Donald Harris and Christine Tuck Harris.
Funeral services were held Thursday February 4 at 2 p.m. at Zion Hill Baptist Church with Rev. Thomas Bolden Jr. officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.
Survivors of Mr. Harris include his parents of the home; one sister, Sandra Yvette Harris of South Boston; six brothers, Robert Donnell Harris of Richmond, Willie Lanel Harris, Silas Kenneth Harris, Oveda Harris, Garland Harris and Jessie James Harris, all of South Boston; his grandmother, Mrs. Alee Tuck of South Boston. He was preceded in death by a brother, Bobby Dean Harris.

Allean Lacy Brown of New York City, NY died January 28, 1999 in Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care C enter of New York City.
Mrs. Brown was born in Halifax County on August 14, 1914 and was 84 years of age at the time of her death. She was the daughter of Allen Lacy and Susan Miller Lacy and was married to Ernest Brown. She was a member of Antioch Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY.
Survivors include one sister, Glennie Lacy Clarke of New York City; a devoted friend, Dan Brommull of Brooklyn; two devoted cousins, Adolphus and Gaynell Logan of Halifax and Grace Wilson of New York City; and a close friend, Viera Miller of New York City.

Funeral services for Mrs. Brown will be held today, February 5 at 2 p.m. at Millstone Baptist Church in Halifax County with Rev. Ronald Claiborne conducting the service. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.

Verlie Crews Logan of 3151 Meadville Road, Nathalie died Sunday, January 31, 1999 at her home at the age of 82.
Mrs. Logan was born in Halifax County on March 30, 1916 the daughter of Henry Crews and Daisy Logan Crews and was married to William C. Logan. She was a member of New Zion Baptist Church.
Survivors include two daughters, Elizabeth Logan of Richmond and Bessie Mae Logan of Fayetteville, NC; two sons, William Logan of Halifax and Freddie Logan of Nathalie; 19 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Fannie C. Younger of Halifax.
Funeral services for Mrs. Logan will be held Saturday, February 6 at 1 p.m. at New Zion Baptist Church with Rev. Willie N . Yancey officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.

Barbara Pointer Ward of Richmond died Tuesday, January 26, 1999.
She was the daughter of Mildred Chandler Pointer of Semora, NC, and was married to James E. Ward.
In addition to her mother and husband, survivors include one son, Brad Ward; one daughter, Allison Merritt Ward; one sister, Luna Pointer Hollett of Birmingham, AL; and one brother, William Pointer of Semora.
A funeral for Mrs. Ward was held Friday, January 29 at Brandermill Church in Midlothian. Burial was in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

Ulum Sylvester Davis, 73, of 1040 State Shed Road, Nathalie died Thursday, February 4, 1999 at Virginia Baptist Hospital. He was the husband of Betty Crews Davis.
Mr. Davis was born in Halifax County on August 17, 1925 the son of Arnie L. Davis and Effie Keattes Davis. He was a member of Memorial Presbyterian Church, an Army Veteran of WWII, and a retired employee of Virginia Department of Transportation-Volens District.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by one daughter and son-in-law, Betsy and Bobby Bentley of Phenix; one grandson, Robert C. Bentley and his wife, Brenda of Rustburg; four brothers, Charles Davis of FL, Arnie Davis Jr., David Davis, both of Nathalie, and Marion Davis of Halifax; four sisters, Christine Moore of Carey, NC, Carolyn Waller of Nathalie, Mildred Eanes of Danville, and Effie Millner of Lynchburg. He was preceded in death by a sister, Eloise Davis.
A funeral service for Mr. Davis will be conducted Saturday, February 6 at Children Baptist Church by Rev. Daryl Joyce and Rev. Rodney Barwick with burial to follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 7-8:30 tonight, February 5 at Henderson Funeral Home, and other times at the home of his daughter, Old Well Road, Phenix.

Rufus Jordan Whitt of 1172 Cemetery Road, Virgilina died Monday, February 1, 1999 at his home. He was 80 years of age at the time of his death.
Mr. Whitt was born in Halifax County on July 28, 1918 the son of Johnnie Green Whitt and Willie Ida Ford Whitt.
Survivors include four sisters, Hazel Elizabeth Whitt and Jerline 'Alma' Terry, both of Halifax, Gladys Marie Lewis of South Boston and Bobbie Jean Lunsford of Stem, NC; three brothers, John Junior Whitt of South Boston, Franklin Delano Whitt of Boydton and Talmadge Pendelton Whitt of Halifax. He was preceded in death by two brothers.
Graveside services for Mr. Whitt will be held Saturday, February 6 at 11 a.m. in the Whitt Family Cemetery in Virgilina with Rev. Rudolph Jacobs conducting the service.

The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home tonight, February 5 from 7 until 8:00.

William Lee Epps of 2175 Asbury Church Road, Vernon Hill died Thursday, February 4, 1999 at Halifax Regional Hospital. He as 67 years of age.
Mr. Epps was born in Halifax County on September 6, 1931 the son of Walter Thomas Epps Sr. and Mabel Arendall Epps and was married to Margaret Mitchell Epps. He was a member of Asbury United Methodist Church.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Wanda Vaughan of Danville, Debbie Compton of Vernon Hill and Elizabeth Roller of Scottsburg; three sisters, Juanita Shields, Peggy Palmer and Kitty Hayslett, all of Lynchburg; and one brother, Ronald Dean Epps of Rustburg. He was preceded in death by a brother, W.T. Epps Jr.
Funeral services for Mr. Epps will be held Saturday, February 6 at 2 p.m. at Asbury United Methodist Church with Revs. Tim Earnhardt and Bob Watts officiating. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home tonight, February 5 from 7 until 8:30, and other times at the home.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Asbury United Methodist Church.