Melba Crews was elected chairman and Stanley Jeffress vice-chairman of the North Main Street Neighborhood Improvement Task Force Monday night, as the Task Force began its assignment.

The 14-member body, appointed by Mayor Glen N. Abernathy, was formed to study the North Main community and find ways for its improvement.
The first meeting of the group Monday night was devoted to general organizational details and a discussion that lasted about two hours as the members sought to identify some of the blight that needs to be cleaned up.
The Mayor's Task Force was created with the blessing of many residents and property owners of that area, and actually was spurred by North Main residents.
The area being considered for cleaning up and sprucing up generally has north and south boundaries along College Street and Hamilton Boulevard, and east and west boundaries of Spring-Sugg Aves. and Jefferson Ave.-Jeffress Blvd.

South Boston Town Manager Ted Daniel praised the initiative and applauded the citizen involvement.
"I think it is a very good project, and I think this was a very positive meeting," Daniel said. "Everybody is enthusiastic about it."
Daniel said he is convinced there is a good core group working on the project, and that bodes well for the future.
"If it is do-able in one area like that, we may be able to go into other areas," Daniel said.
Ms. Crews, the Task Force chairman, is a resident of North Main, and Jeffress, the vice-chairman, operates a business on North Main.
In the meantime, Town Council voted itself some $33,000 annually last Thursday, in money that until now was going to VDOT.
Finance director Vandie Saunders noted an unexplained 50 cents charge on telephone bills, and discovered that it is a public rights-of-way fee on all telecommunication companies, and is earmarked for street work.

Saunders pointed out that the funds must be used for street work, which includes lights.
Council also has in committee a request from a citizens group led by Walter Potts requesting the re-opening of the Penick Avenue pool.
Both the Penick and Grove Avenue pools were closed some time ago, and the Grove facility now has been filled in with earth.

"Just because it's never been done before is no reason it can't be done by me," said Dr. Jesse Bates, explaining his outlook on life.
Throughout his 78 years, Bates has overcome adversity on numerous occasions to accomplish what had never been done before. Now, after practicing medicine in the Town of South Boston for over a half a century, Bates has retired.
His interest in medicine began after his mother died when he was only 11 years old. By the time he was in high school, he was nurturing dreams of attending medical school.
"When I was a senior in high school here in Halifax my brother was very sick with pneumonia, and L.P. Bailey came to see him," Bates recalled. "I remember, I was studying by lamplight, and Mr. Bailey asked my father what he wanted me to be, and that was a doctor."
Bailey cautioned Bates about the high cost of higher education - $10,000 back in 1946 - but that was only a small hurdle to one as determined as Bates was.
Bates attended Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton College, from 1941 to 1944 and then earned early admission to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
During his first year at Hampton Bates joined the Army Reserve Corp, just four short months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
"I was smart enough to transfer from a science major to pre-med," Bates explained.
But it wasn't nearly as simple as that may sound, for it was up to Bates to convince the college dean to establish a pre-med department at the college.
"He told me he'd do it if I could get 10 people together to participate, and I did," Bates stated simply.
Like so many things in his life, it was something he wanted to do, so he did it.
"Hampton was quite and experience," Bates said, recalling the time he worked for the college president and dean of instruction. "I saw lots of famous people in that position...Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt came in and so did Mary McCloud Bethune, Paul Robeson. We had a time!"
It was during his time at Hampton that Bates met his wife, Juanita, whom he married in 1945.
After his formal education, Bates plunged into the world of medicine with both feet, completing his internship in Harlem, N.Y.
"You just wouldn't believe Harlem's emergency room. I saw it all," Bates recalled. "We had a wealth of clinical material. There was leprosy, TB and we had one of the first cases of meningitis that was treated effectively. In the pneumonia ward I saw every complication."
After his internship at Harlem, Bates proceeded to pass the National Medical Boards so he could finally realize his dream of becoming a doctor. But passing the test was only the beginning.
"After I passed the tests I was waiting for my license to come. I finally asked about it and was told it hadn't been processed yet," Bates said. "So I went to Roanoke myself to get my credentials and said I'd get the signatures myself. They told me that had never been done before. Couldn't be done. The doctors whose signatures I needed were all over the state. But that's no reason it can't be done by me."
And so Bates, his wife and their young baby, Sandra, drove all over the state, beginning in Pennington Gap and continuing through Nathalie, Richmond, Norfolk, Winchester and back to Roanoke collecting the necessary signatures.
"I got them all," he recalled with a smile.
Bates opened his first practice on Ferry Street in South Boston in June of 1948.
"Things were a lot different back then. For one thing, I had no hospital privileges at the South Boston Hospital. Prejudice was pretty rank at that time, you see," Bates, who was one of the only black doctors in town at the time, explained. "Nothing was integrated."
But like every other challenge, Bates faced this head on, and he worked hand in hand with the founders of Community Hospital (now Halifax Regional Hospital) when it opened in 1954.
"They promised me full staff privileges when they were writing up the by-laws. They said my being black was a technicality. I told them being black wasn't a technicality, I was born this way," he said with a laugh.
Bates joined the staff and worked his way up the ladder becoming vice-chief of staff and later, chief of staff.
Bates worked with Dr. W. Lloyd Eastlack, who was then the chairman of the nominating committee, and kept his practice on Ferry Street until he volunteered for the U.S. Air Force in 1955 and served in Sacramento, California, for two years before returning to South Boston.
"I came back here because this is my home," Bates said.
It was a busy period in the young doctor's life, especially with pressure to get a black doctor on the hospital board.
"I could sit on the board as chief of staff, but I still couldn't vote. I found it was best not to ask if I was supposed to participate, I just would go ahead unless someone said something," Bates said. "But then they found out this color wouldn't rub off on them.
"I would say that Community Hospital was the sparkplug in integration in Halifax County. We all worked together on surgeries, and I did my deliveries, and I came to find that Community Hospital was really the wedge to separate some of that thick bias that existed," Bates said.
Bates' new practice was located on the lower end of Main Street until he relocated in 1960 to 2018 North Main St.
Bates would stay at this location until 1987, when he moved to the office on Webster Street, where he and Dr. Gahear F. Hamlor worked as partners until Bates retired and the office closed.
"It was a busy time. I was on the hospital board, had a private practice, and was joining every civic organization I could. I even served on the Halifax County School Board for about 16 years," Bates recalled. "We were trying to lure industries to the area, and they wouldn't come if they didn't see good faith in the citizens. I wanted to demonstrate that black and whites could work together.
"We went from having only one member on the board to now where we have six out of 32 that are physicians, and I've seen the hospital grow to where it is now. It's been good."
After leading such a busy professional and civic life-style, Bates wondered how he would react to retirement, but he said it hasn't been so bad.
"It's been about three weeks not. At first I didn't think I'd like it after being so busy, but it hasn't been that bad. Now I have time to read those books I couldn't finish before," Bates said with a soft smile
Bates said the office on Webster Street closed its doors for good Monday a week ago, and all patient records have been transferred to the Volens Medical Center, where Dr. Hamlor will continue to practice medicine.
Bates is held in high regard by his fellow doctors, and they remember him first for his dedication to patient care.
"He referred me on all our surgical patients. He was a very good outgoing individual, and took his patients' care very seriously," said Dr. Allen Fuller, who worked with Bates at the hospital from its inception in 1954 until he retired in 1991. "He was a very good, dedicated general practitioner and gave his patients wonderful care."
Bates' patients hold him in high regard, many saying that he had been their family doctor for generations, and was like a member of the family.
"He was just like a brother to the family of us. He has served us down through the generations of the family," Edith Edmunds said.
Edmunds sister, Jessie Johnson, attended high school with Bates and remembers that even then he was dedicated to being a doctor.
"He was very dedicated and always wanted to be a doctor, even back then," Johnson recalled. "I've got a licensed adult care home, and I've always taken my residents to him. He's a nice man and always tried to help you."

Moving through the pine tag carpeted forest with the stealth of a frontiersman, James Edmunds II can take down game for dinner or estimate the worth of a timber stand in the blink of an eye.
He is at home in the woods, as was his father and grandfather before him.
A third generation tree farmer/ cattleman and recent appointee to the state Board of Forestry, the Halifax County man is both optimistic and concerned about Virginia's forest legacy.
It is, he explains, the best of times for Virginia tree farmers ready to harvest.
The market is excellent and replanting incentive programs combined with genetically improved fast-growing pines spur reforestation efforts.
Through various cost-share programs, approximately 50 percent of the cost for planting pine is reimbursed to the landowner, according to Edmunds, with approximately 75 percent of the cost of planting hardwood reimbursed.
"By all means, plant pines," encouraged Edmunds.
Most of his timberland is planted in loblolly and shortleaf pine, the original native variety of pine.
Edmunds recommends "at least 20 acres or more" as a manageable amount and an amount timber companies will be willing to harvest.
"You can't be a tree farmer if you're not going to harvest. It's no different from other farming," he explained. "The period from planting to harvest is simply longer."
Time and taxes are factors.
A pine stand's harvest spans 35-40 years, according to Edmunds, with two thinning operations followed by a clear cut, currently paying up to $1,500 per acre. "But the market changes," reminded Edmunds.
The first thinning comes 18 to 20 years after planting and, on 20 acres at today's market, might bring $250 to $300 per acre. The second thinning occurs 24 to 26 years after planting and currently brings $300 to $500 per acre, according to Edmunds.
Easy access to harvest is another important factor.
"A tree farm should be under strict management practices programs for disease, maximizing growth and harvest," said Edmunds.
Trees also face an array of natural enemies, including the southern pine bark beetle, ice - which Edmunds considers "the biggest threat," and fire.
"This is as far north as loblolly are generally planted," began Edmunds. "It has long needles, is a fast grower but, with ice, it will break in two."
Tax consequences also come into play since the value of a large, growing timber stand is added to the land's value for tax purposes.
It is a tax Commissioner of the Revenue Danny Jackson describes as "a minimal amount."
"It ranges from $20 up to $150-$200 per acre depending on the growth of the stand," advised Jackson.
Overall, the state is facing another contemporary problem, fragmentation.
"This is a man made occurrence and a big concern of the Board's," explained Edmunds. "The loss of available forest land due to urban development. It takes timber and farm land out of production.
"Approximately 70 percent of the country's farmland/timberland will change ownership in the next 10 years," said the Board of Forestry member.
"Growing houses is where the market is. Development gobbles up the land and that is happening at an alarming rate," emphasized Edmunds.
When land is divided into home sites, the trees are still there but their availability to harvest is lost.
"They become yard trees and use of the trees changes from timber to recreation and aesthetics," said Edmunds.
The long-term effect?
"Those trees will mature and begin to die, not to be replanted. "
There are other impacts.
"Every $1 received by the landowner for stumpage (price paid for standing timber), generates $48.64 total value added into Virginia's economy," said Edmunds.
With the forest products industry contributing $11.5 billion annually to Virginia's economy, the state of Virginia's forests is an economic heavyweight statewide.
On its big issues screen, the state Board of Forestry is targeting the governor's initiatives.
"Water quality is the flag issue," said Edmunds. The initiative also calls for 610 miles of riparian forests (a 35-ft. streamside buffer) by 2010.
"There are also conservation alliances coming on board to protect the agricultural base, to preserve land through tax incentives ...state and federal inheritances to keep the land the way it is and to not have to sell the farm to pay inheritance," said Edmunds.
The Department of Forestry is also constantly instituting studies to determine the growth/drain ratio in the state's forests.
But the nationwide loss of agricultural land is one issue that worries all farmers.
"Because the average farmer's age is 55 years," said Edmunds. "And with only two percent of the nation's population producing its food," Edmunds worries about the plight of the farmer and the wisdom of policies driving him from the land.
"The mission of the state Board of Forestry is to protect forest resources," said Edmunds.
But the fate of all agricultural land weighs heavily on this farmer's heart.

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators and state officials talked of compromise Monday on whether states would give the federal government a piece of the $246 billion tobacco companies agreed to pay to settle health-related lawsuits.
At issue was a measure approved this month by the Senate Appropriations Committee that would prevent the government from using Medicaid law to claim a share of the money.
The Clinton administration has threatened to seek what it says is the federal share unless states agree to spend settlements exclusively on health-related matters. State officials contend the states should be able to use the money as they please, even on sidewalks, roads or tax cuts.
''It may be that we can reach some accommodation,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services. As he prepared his amendment to the measure, Specter asked state officials to provide ''general set of standards'' they could accept for how to spend the money.
''I think we're entitled to know where it's going to be spent,'' Specter said.
The request underscored the instability of the full committee's March 4 approval of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's amendment to a $1.9 billion emergency spending bill, tempered by continuing political heat that surrounds the tobacco issue since the death last year of a $516 billion Senate settlement.
The tobacco industry settled with the states in November, but what to do with that money has sparked new contention between Washington to the 50 state capitals.
Tobacco companies agreed to pay $40 billion over 25 years to settle four state lawsuits and another $206 billion in a broader deal with the other 46 states.
Hutchison said Wednesday her amendment would prevent ''the Big Brother federal government'' from dictating spending priorities to states that fought for and won the settlement.
''I am going to try to keep you from dictating to the states what they should do with money that I think they've earned,'' Hutchison told Mike Hash, deputy administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration.
The Clinton administration contends states must share proceeds of any lawsuits involving Medicaid, because the federal government pays 57 percent of that program's cost.
Hutchison's legislation would bar the White House from using Medicaid law to recoup the money, and supporters see a critical need to move swiftly because legislatures want to decide quickly how to spend the money.
All 50 governors have challenged the federal position on the ground that the states earned every penny of the settlement by filing and settling lawsuits against tobacco companies. States, the governors believe, should be able to use the dollars as they please, however they choose to spend them.
''After bearing all the risks and expenses in the arduous negotiations and litigation, ... we are now fully entitled to all the funds awarded to us,'' Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton told Specter's subcommittee.
The administration fired back Monday with a letter from Donna Shalala, secretary of health and human resources, urging Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens of Alaska and ranking Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia to reject the states' challenge to the government's claim.
The whole matter, said Specter, is so legally uncharted that it's likely to wind up in court once again. Instead, he asked Patton and state officials from Texas and Pennsylvania to get back to him with a list of spending requirements they could accept.

Raleigh-AP -- After more than two hours of debate, the state House has given final approval to a tobacco settlement bill that sets up a charitable foundation to help rural communities.
On a 61-to-58 vote, the House approved a plan that will give half of the four-point-six billion dollars the state expects to get from a national tobacco settlement to that foundation. The other half will be split between workers in tobacco-related businesses and health care.
The original count was 60-to-58, but the House Speaker Jim Black realized he had forgotten to vote.
The measure now returns to the state Senate for what could be final approval. If the Senate does not accept changes made by the House, however, a special committee will ave to negotiate a final plan. Lawmakers have until Thursday to either approve the foundation or see the settlement money go directly into state coffers.

The tally of suspects rounded up through the Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotic Enforcement Task Force is steadily growing.
According to information provided through the Halifax County Sheriff's Department, another suspect was arrested last week.
Bryant Maurice Buster, 21, of Carrington Street, South Boston, turned himself in to authorities Thursday after being indicted for distribution of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Buster's arrest brings the total number of suspects brought in as a result of Operation Street Sweep to 24 since the initial roundup March 5.
This operation brings to conclusion a six-month investigation primarily focusing on the street level drug dealers. The operation has resulted in the arrest of suspects for distribution of crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana.

In this operation, the Task Force has placed 71 charges on 42 suspects. This includes several suspects that are being charged Federally.
This investigation is continuing, and authorities say further arrests are anticipated.

Jennie Phipps Lawson of 825 North Main Street, South Boston, died Monday, March 15, 1999, at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N. C.
She was 83 years of age and had been a prominent member of the business community here for most of her adult life as owner and operator of Faulkner and Lawson Drug Company.
She was a member of the family that established the downtown drug store and operated it for more than one hundred years.
Miss Lawson was born in Halifax County on June 15, 1915, and was the daughter of William Henry Lawson and Elizabeth Lundy Wyche Lawson.
She was a member of Main Street United Methodist Church.
Miss Lawson is survived by one niece, Sue Lawson Morgan of Fairfax County.
Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 19, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, with the Revs. George Gravitt and Dr. Russell Lee officiating.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home Thursday from 6 until 8 p.m.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider South Boston-Halifax County Museum of History and Fine Arts, or a charity of your choice.

Don Paul Corbin of 6230 Mountain Road, Halifax died Sunday, March 14, 1999 at his home. He was 79 years of age at the time of his death.
Mr. Corbin was born in Pike County, KY on September 9, 1920 the son of Claude Corbin and Maude Varney Corbin and was married to Lena Rivers Thompson Corbin. He was an Army Veteran of World War II.
Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Donna C. Casto and Sharon C. Clark, both of Pikeville, KY, and Helen C. 'Cookie' Grice of Murrell's Inlet, SC; three sons, John Albert Corbin, Paul Douglas Corbin and C. Michael Corbin, all of Pikeville; two sisters, Mary Lou Banks of Love Park, IL and Eleanor Johnson of Sullivan's Island, SC; three granddaughters; six grandsons; two great-grandsons, and one great-granddaughter.
The family will receive friends at Call Funeral Home in Pikeville this Saturday from 4:00 until 8:00 p.m.

Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the American Diabetes Association.

Gilbert Wilson Short of 9177 L.P. Bailey Memorial Highway, Nathalie died Monday, March 15, 1999 at Halifax Regional Hospital. He was 86 years of age at the time of his death.
Mr. Short was born in Halifax County on October 1, 1912 the son of Woody Thomas Short and Willie Ridgeway Short and was married to Cecile Waller Short. He was a member of First Baptist Church of Millstone.
Survivors include two daughters, Linda Short Clark of South Boston and Elizabeth Sue 'Betty' Short of Nathalie; five sons, Eugene Gilbert Short and Ryland Wilson Short, both of Nathalie, Phillip Morris Short of Norfolk, Wayne Hubert Short of Altavista and Garnett Woody Short of South Boston; two brothers, Russell Franklin Short Sr. and Rufus Willie Short, both of Nathalie; four sisters, Irene Short Cox, Iva Short Swift, Hessie Short Oakes and Zella Short Risner, all of Danville; 15 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one son, Gordon Lee 'Bobby' Short; two grandsons, Ryland Wilson Short Jr. and Phillip Morris Short Jr.; two sisters, Hazel Porterfield and Mozelle Short; two brothers, Hubert Woody Short and Ronald Owen Short; two half sisters, Carol Davis and Ollie Trent.

Funeral services for Mr. Short will be held today, March 17 at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Millstone with Rev. Bob Watts conducting the service. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.

George Milton Hancock Jr., 58, of Hampton died Sunday, March 14, 1999.
Mr. Hancock was born in Halifax County the son of Alma and George M. Hancock Sr. He was the owner of George's Lawnmower Repair and served four years in the Air Force, retired after 28 years with the Virginia Air National Guard. He was a member of Hampton Elks Lodge No. 366 and the American Legion Post 8 in South Boston.
Survivors include his wife, Pat R. Hancock; one daughter, Debbie E. Hancock of Newport News; one son, Steve W. Hancock of Hampton; one brother, James Ray Hancock of Halifax County; and one grandson, Blake A. Dezern. He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Charlie A. Hancock.
A funeral service for Mr. Hancock will be held today, March 17 at 11 a.m. at the chapel of R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home in Hampton. Burial will follow in Hampton Memorial Gardens.