Two tobacco warehouses became one
yesterday in South Boston with the
merger of the Planters and Star while uncertainty surrounds the continued operation of a third, the grower-owned cooperative Victory Warehouse in Riverdale.
Operators George Tribble, Charles Payne and D.T. Neal have formed the Planters-Star Warehouse and will conduct all sales at the Planters' location on Wilborn Avenue.
Mergings and closings of tobacco warehouses throughout both the flue-cured and burley markets have operators scrambling to survive the expected loss of volume as a result of contract purchasing between the tobacco companies and growers.
Tribble, who became associated with the Planters Warehouse in 1963, said that Planters had watched its sales volume drop from 5.5 million to 3.5 million in the last two seasons. Neal, operator of the Star Warehouse located off Hamilton Boulevard, said that his sales volume in 2000 was 2.6 million.
The Star is actually the newer of the two warehouses but has less than half the amount of floor space with 30,000 square feet. Neal said that he leased that facility to a local manufacturing company for storage.
Payne acquired the New Brick Warehouse over 10 years ago and merged with Tribble and the Planters in 1998.
"Basically, what we're trying to do is keep operating," said Tribble. "We want to offer growers an alternative to contracting but it will depend on them."
Tribble and his son are growers themselves and plan on producing approximately 100 acres of flue-cured tobacco in northern Halifax County this year. They also grow a small amount of burley tobacco. Neal grows about 50 acres of flue-cured in Person County, N.C., near Virgilina.
Tribble expressed concerns for what he called a "mixed signal" being sent by approximately 97 percent of growers who just voted to retain the price support system. "You can't have it both ways," he said, noting that USDA graders were not currently involved in the contracting system.
"Growers are going down a road they've never traveled before," said Tribble who is even more concerned that contracting will threaten the price support program and the grower-owned stabilization program.
Philip Morris has been the major purchaser of tobacco sold at Planters and the Star warehouses in the past. Philip Morris, the largest purchaser of tobacco worldwide, does not send its buyers to South Boston but has an agreement with Universal Leaf to make its purchases.
Tribble said that he had been told by Philip Morris representatives that buyers would continue to be represented at auction sales this season.
Planters-Star Warehouse operators say they don't know how much volume of tobacco will be designated to them this season but many of their regular growers have not entered into contracts for direct purchases by the cigarette companies.
Their customer base includes all of Halifax County, west towards Danville, east into Mecklenburg and north to into Charlotte and even Amelia counties.
South Boston's only other tobacco warehouse, the grower-owned cooperative, Victory Warehouse, has made no decision on how or if it will operate this year. A spokesman for the Victory said that operators met two weeks ago and agreed only to wait and see how much of an impact contract purchasing would have.
Growers have until April 15 to designate where they intend to sell their 2001 crop. Heretofore, a single marketing card has allowed producers to sell their designated pounds at auction or directly to tobacco companies. USDA officials say that two marketing cards, one for designated tobacco and another for non-designated are being considered this year but nothing official has been announced.

Virgilina Elementary School and Wilson Memorial Elementary School are targeted for closure under a proposed Phase II of the county school system's capital improvements program.
In conjunction with that, South of Dan Elementary School, Cluster Springs Elementary School and Turbeville Elementary School will each be renovated to accommodate approximately 350 students in grades K-6.
Halifax County School Board member G.C. Ratliff was slated to pass that news on to the Virgilina Elementary School PTO when it met last night.
The school trustee said yesterday he planned to present the meat of the plan and some of the numbers for the Virgilina parents to examine.
Ratliff stated that preliminary figures from school system officials show the closing of the two schools will save the county approximately $676,000 a year.
"I am not taking a position on it yet," said Ratliff who represents the Virgilina community on the school board.
"I'm just out there to be the bearer of bad tidings. I'm just there to state the facts. I want to give the residents of Virgilina as much time as possible to give their imput."
Halifax County School Superintendent Dennis Witt is slated to pitch the Phase II capital improvements proposal to the Halifax County Board of Supervisors Friday during a planning retreat being held by the county's governing body.
Witt declined yesterday to discuss the specifics of the Phase II plan, saying only "Phase II might very well include discontinuing use of more very small schools."
Witt is slated to present the Phase II proposal to the Halifax County School Board when it meets Monday night.
Ratliff pointed out, however, that the proposal that Witt will present to the School Board Monday night may be an altered version with some altered figures, depending upon the feedback received from the Board of Supervisors.
"What he (Witt) is proposing is, in a majority of opinions, what it will take to bring Halifax County closer with what our neighboring counties are doing," Ratliff stated.
The basic proposal, Ratliff said, is to close Virgilina and Wilson Memorial and renovate South of Dan Elementary School, Cluster Springs Elementary School and Turbeville Elementary School.
All three of those schools would then serve approximately 350 students in grades K-6 and will closely mirror what Clays Mill Elementary School, Sydnor Jennings Elementary School and Scottsburg Elementary Schools will become when renovations and additions to those schools are completed later this year.
Peculiar to the Cluster Springs-South of Dan situation, Ratliff said, is a proposal to construct one activity room/gym facility between the two schools to serve both, and eliminating a kitchen at one of the two facilities.
The remaining kitchen would serve both school cafeterias.
If that is what is done, Ratliff said, "it would almost, in effect, be one school."
Ratliff said that under the proposed plan, students from the closed Virgilina Elementary School will attend South of Dan and Cluster Springs Elementary schools.
In order to alleviate a potential overcrowding situation at the two Cluster Springs facilities, approximately 60 students in the current Cluster Springs-South of Dan zone would be moved to the renovated Turbeville Elementary School facility, which will take in the students from the closed Wilson Memorial Elementary School.
Ratliff said that the proposed closing of Virgilina and Wilson Memorial will not result in any employees losing their jobs.
The positions will be absorbed through the natural course of attrition, he pointed out.
Money, Ratliff said, is the bottom line in the picture.
"The question is what can we afford to do?" Ratliff said.
"Our funding from the state keeps getting cut back every year from the year before. We still have to pay our teachers and employees, we still have to pay our bills and we have to provide a certain level of service to both our students and the taxpayers.
"If we can afford this and give our children a better education and a better experience in school, why don't we do that?" added Ratliff.
Closing the two schools and consolidating some of the operations will create a positive impact on the school system budget, Ratliff stated.
"I feel like when I show them (the parents and PTO members) the numbers, it's going to be hard to argue with."
The school system is in the heart of its Phase I program with renovations underway at Sydnor Jennings, Clays Mill and Scottsburg.
Clover Elementary School and Volens Elementary School will be closed when the renovations to the three schools are complete.

Supervisors will determine the fate of the Halifax County War Memorial.
The board agreed Monday night to hire an architect "to tell them if the memorial design corresponds with the courthouse." Supervisors will make the final design decision.
War Memorial Park is located at the corner of Main Street and Mountain Road in Halifax.
The memorial is to be dedicated to Halifax County citizens killed in service to their country during war.
"I honestly believe it can all come to a conclusion pretty quickly," said Supervisor R.E. "Dickie" Abbott, chairman of the Grounds Committee, of the design decision.
The design has long been a subject of controversy.
The War Memorial Commission initiated the overall memorial project and designed a monument.
The Halifax Woman's Club, through a fund-raising effort, purchased and then donated the land for War Memorial Park to the county. A number of the club's members have questioned the memorial's design.
The design has been the subject of negotiation between the Grounds Committee and the War Commission for about a year.
The memorial's color and overall roof design remain as stumbling blocks, according to county officials.
Supervisor David Martin, a Grounds Committee member, said that "both sides have done a lot of work." The supervisor specifically named research and fund-raising.
Martin said that he thought it was important to use the War Commission's plan as a basis, and to apprise the architect of the concerns of the Woman's Club "that the memorial blend with the courthouse."
"I don't really feel that they are that far apart," added Abbott. "They are real close now"
Supervisor James E. Edmunds said that the board needed an "impartial architect" to review plans.
In other business:
· The board voted 7-0 (with Supervisor Tom West absent) to request that VDOT accept Occoneechee Trail and Lakeshore Drive into the state system following improvements bringing the two roads in the Lakeshore community up to state standards.
· In other road action, the board passed a resolution requesting that VDOT take Route 895 into the system. A utility problem is still being addressed in the area.
· A public hearing was set in March to address the VDOT acquisition of land at War Memorial Park in Halifax. VDOT will widen the turning area from Main Street into Mountain Road.
· VDOT Resident Engineer Joe Barkley introduced Tina Cassada to board members. She is the new permit and subdivision inspector at the Halifax Residency, taking the position formerly held by Bob Lewis, who retired.
· Supervisors were advised that the county treasurer recommended publishing the 1998 delinquent tax list during the summer. Less than $350,000 is outstanding, according to county officials.
· The board, in a 6-1 vote with Supervisor Abbott in opposition, approved a resolution supporting the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission's position on securing master settlement fund payments and creating a permanent trust fund. Abbott expressed concern about the safety of the funds in a political climate.
· Supervisor Lottie Nunn is to present a resolution at a Friday legislative redistricting hearing in Danville. The resolution will support maintaining the community of interest Halifax County shares with other Southside Virginia counties by avoiding extending district lines into urban areas of Tidewater or the Richmond vicinity. The Economic Development Council Committee on Redistricting also suggested "that to the greatest extent possible, Halifax County be wholly within both a Senatorial and a House of Delegates district."
· Supervisors set a March public hearing for Blue Chip Racing's request for limited spectator camping Friday and Saturday nights at VIR. Supervisors also approved Blue Chip's 11-event schedule for spectators.
· During a public hearing Monday night, George H. Gardner, vice president of Synergics, Inc., spoke concerning a real estate issue tied to the transfer of the Banister Dam in Halifax. About 40 acres north of the dam is in dispute between the company and the county, according to Gardner. "We contend the property went with the dam," he told supervisors.
Supervisor Abbott said that, as he recalled, the supervisors' intent at the time was that the property would go to the company.
The county's attorney, W.W. Bennett, is in the legislature, county planner Jerry Lovelace explained. Lovelace told supervisors that "Bennett and Synergics are talking" about the issue.
County Administrator Joe Morgan explained that the public hearing was necessary as a step in clarifying the issue. The board took no action.
· Supervisors gave permission to South Boston Speedway for its Emergency Medical Services. The action was necessary because of transfer of ownership of the speedway.
· Bill McCaleb was named to the Improvement Council from District 8.
· The board will recommend to the circuit court that Leon Plaster be reappointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
· Jack Dunavant and John Cannon were reappointed by supervisors to new terms with the Industrial Development Authority.

Since the Virginia Retirement System is fully funded, the projected retirement rate reduction would boost local governments' revenue - with Halifax County's return at $414,724 - Gov. Gilmore's office announced this week.
But Halifax County Superintendent Dennis Witt is not impressed.
"Suffice it to say, for Halifax County the reduction in VRS, along with the rest of the state budget, provides money for a 1 percent raise in Halifax County. That is bottom line," said Witt.
"VRS might be flush now, but it could be tricky business using VRS as a revenue service (in the future)," added the superintendent.
Locally, there are two compounding factors, according to Witt.
"We went through composite index transition last year with $425,000 that is not here this year," explained the superintendent. "Two, we lost about 30 students, and that has an impact on state funds.
"Those two items pretty much wiped out any gain we received from the Virginia Retirement System. Everything else being equal, it could have been 1.5 percent, but everything is not equal," Witt said.
While many state employees anticipate a 3 percent pay increase, school teachers are not slated for an increase in the proposed state budget.
The Department of Education and the Department of Planning and Budget provided the analysis, by locality, of savings from the retirement rate reduction as contained in the governor's introduced budget.
The rate change represents a 3.68 percent reduction on professional personnel and varied for localities on nonprofessional personnel, with almost 90 percent receiving a rate reduction, according to the announcement.
The state has accounted for its savings of $63.4 million from the rate reduction. In addition, the additional cost to localities to support their share of the retiree health care credit ($21 million) still leaves $94.5 million in savings for localities in the second year of the biennium, according to the press release.
The net local savings are not one-time savings.
"These new dollars," said Sec. of Finance Ronald L. Tillett, "are a windfall for the localities and should go a long way in helping localities fund a variety of public needs including education, public safety or any program deemed appropriate."
If localities use the savings to support teacher and support staff salary increases, the increase will be funded in future years through the state Standards of Quality education funding formula, according to the press release.

South Boston Town Council went into executive session on Monday after its council committees' meeting to negotiate a price to acquire and raze the 100-year-old former Halifax Cotton Mill building.
Part of the building on Railroad Avenue is currently used by Hilden America Inc., with the remaining 200,000 square feet of the adjacent section lying unused and in a state of deterioration.
According to town staff, negotiations are ongoing between the town and Hilden.
Dave Nicoll, president of Hilden America, said the sale of the mill would allow him to move the business to a new location in South Boston.
"We have too many ties to the people in this area to go anywhere else," said Nicoll, adding that they were looking at several sites, including the industrial park.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had determined that the flood-damaged buildings were eligible for Hazard Mitigation Grant assistance, following an application filed by Nicoll in 1997.
The town is applying the $350,000 Hazard Mitigation Grant toward environmental impact studies, historical recordation of the buildings (including identification of artifacts by the South Boston-Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts and History), and asbestos removal.
The town itself will allocate approximately $125,000 (in kind) for the project, according to Town Manger Ted Daniel.
Daniel also presented council members with a preliminary timetable for the purchasing, recordation and demolition process, with the actual razing slated to begin in July and end by the end of the year.
FEMA requires that the mill area be returned to its natural state after the project is completed.

Halifax County has played Albemarle eight times over the course of three seasons.
Each time, the result has been the same - a loss.
In several of the games, the Comets had opportunities to win in the closing minutes.
But, they have never seemed to be able to get over the top.
What is it about Albemarle that prevents Halifax County from getting over the top?
Perhaps its one win.
Comets coach Garrett Dillard sees the Comets' situation as one that the University of Virginia's football program faced a few years ago.
"They hadn't beaten Clemson since they invented the game of football," Dillard pointed out.
"But as soon as they beat Clemson, they elevated to the next level for a few years. They beat Clemson that one year and since then their football program has been on top."
Dillard also pointed to the Chicago Bulls when they had to beat Detroit to establish themselves at the next level.
"They went on to win six NBA championships," stated Dillard.
Just as the Cavalier football team saw Clemson as a major gridiron challenge and the Chicago Bulls had to get past Detroit to elevate itself to the next tier, Albemarle is Halifax County's challenge.
The Comets rallied in the closing minutes of the first meeting between the two teams in Charlottesville only to fall three points shy after Sterling Williams knocked down four three-point baskets in the final 39 seconds.
Halifax County was deadlocked with the Patriots after three quarters in last Friday's game.
Although Albemarle won 51-39, it wasn't until the Comets were forced to foul down the stretch of the final minute or so of the game that the spread opened up.
Both games were close but the Comets couldn't quite get over the hump.
"Everybody has somebody that they have to beat," Dillard pointed out.
I take Albemarle as a major challenge. The day we beat them is going to be a turnaround for Halifax County basketball."
The mental aspect is the big thing about overcoming a challenge such as that which Albemarle has presented to Halifax County.
"Once they beat you two or three times you start doing things differently," Dillard explained.
"As a coach, you're sitting there thinking 'at least we're still in the ball game and they haven't blown us out.'
"It takes you out of your mode and the guys are thinking 'we're up by one or only down by one, so we still have a chance,'" continued Dillard.
"Sometimes you can get up and get a big lead on them if you're not thinking that because you're thinking 'attack, attack, attack.' But, when you're thinking all we want to do is keep it close so we can win, you tend to get a little conservative."
Unless something unusual happens in the form of upsets, the Comets will likely finish third in the regular season Western District standings.
In that picture, the Comets will find themselves in the same situation they have faced the past two years - having to play Albemarle in Charlottesville in the semifinals of the Western District Tournament.
If that should happen, it will likely be the last time the two teams will face each other on the basketball court -at least for a long time.
Next season Halifax County will be in the new Western Valley District and Albemarle will be in a new district as well.
The only way that the two teams would face each other would be if both made it to the Northwest Region semifinals or championship game.
"We only have one more chance to do it (beat Albemarle)," Dillard noted.
"When we get our chance at Albemarle I hope we can beat them and propel ourselves on into the Northwest Region Tournament."
Halifax County, now 9-8 overall and 1-3 in Western District play, will face E.C. Glass Friday night in Lynchburg in a Western District game.
If Halifax County wins, the Comets will all but clinch third place in the district standings with one Western District game, a meeting with archrival GW here February 16, remaining.

Susie Carter Medley, 60, of 3151 Henderson Road, Alton, died February 3 in Alton.
Mrs. Medley was born in Halifax County on April 18, 1940, the daughter of Isaac Carter and Sadie Hamlett Carter and was married to Jerry Medley. She was a member of Chestnut Grove Baptist Church.
Survivors include her husband; one daughter, Debra Martin of Danville; one stepdaughter, Shelia Brinkley of Richmond; four stepsons, Robert Boyd of New York, Ivory Medley of Norfolk, Rev. Preston Medley of Alton and Jerry Wayne Medley of Halifax; one sister, Leola Jean Davis of Rochester, N.Y.; two brothers, Melvin Carter of Dinwiddie and Jerry Wayne Carter of Alton; 12 grandchildren; and one son-in-law.
Funeral services for Mrs. Medley will be held February 8 at 2 p.m. with services at Chestnut Grove Baptist Church in Semora, N.C. with the Rev. Harold Wenstley officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the Chapel of Jeffress Funeral Home this evening, February 7, from 6:00 until 8:00, and other times at the home.

James Leville Williams, 67, of 3602 Old Halifax Road, Halifax, died February 3 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Williams was born in Halifax County on April 18, 1933, the son of James Oliver Williams Jr. and Marie Claiborne Williams. He was a member of Peaceful Tabernacle Baptist Church and was Korean War Army Veteran.
Survivors include one daughter, Deborah Rose of Baltimore, Md.; one brother, Edward D. Williams of South Boston; two grandchildren; one son-in-law, Mark Rose; two sisters-in-law, Joyce Williams and Gwendolyn Williams.
Funeral services for Mr. Williams will be held February 8 at 10 a.m. at Peaceful Tabernacle Baptist Church with the Rev. Jackie Stamps officiating. Burial will follow in Halifax Memorial Gardens.
The family is receiving friends at the home.

Jean Yates Green, 69, of 121 Edmunds Street, South Boston, died February 5 at her home.
Mrs. Green was born in Halifax County on November 9, 1931, the daughter of Aubrey Roosevelt Yates and Fannie Francis Yates and was married to Beverly Russell Green. She was a member of Southside Baptist Church.
Survivors include one son and daughter-in-law, Charles Warren and Lisa McCullough Green of South Boston; one daughter and son-in-law Beverly and Lane Thomason of South Boston; one brother, Michael L. Yates of South Boston; one sister, Doris Y. Wilborn of South Boston; three grandchildren, Michelle Green-Short, Tiffany Green and Bridget Thomason, all of South Boston and one great-grandchild, Skylar Short of South Boston.
A funeral service for Mrs. Green will be held February 8 at 2 p.m. at Powell Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. Don Bryant and Doug Martin conducting the service. Burial will take place in Halifax Memorial Gardens.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home this evening, February 7, from 7:00 until 8:30, and other times at the home.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Halifax County Cancer Association, PO Box 875, South Boston, or Southside Baptist Church, PO Box 315, South Boston.

Robert "Bob" Dean "Red" Rumbaugh, 59, of Halifax, formerly of Kisiki Township, Penn., died February 5 at his home.
Mr. Rumbaugh was born in Alleghany County, Penn. on February 17, 1941, the son of Claude A. Rumbaugh and Rose Dunmire Rumbaugh and was married to Linda Clark Rumbaugh. He was of the Methodist faith.
A memorial service will be held at Union United Methodist Church today, February 7 at 2 p.m. with the Revs. Roger Wilborn and Melvin Bradshaw conducting the service.
Mr. Rumbaugh is survived by his wife of Halifax; one son, Randy Rumbaugh of Halifax; one daughter, Elizabeth R. Bennett of Ohio; one stepdaughter, Linda Wentz Saunders of South Boston; one stepson, Sean Robert Stoner of Lynchburg; one brother, Ralph B. Rumbaugh of Springfield, Ohio; one sister, Vivian R. Armitage of Apollo, Penn.; and one step-grandchild, Zachary Saunders.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Halifax County Cancer Association, PO Box 875, South Boston 24592 or Halifax Regional Hospice.