A fixed-wing plane was brought in yesterday afternoon to aid in the search for a 49-year-old Crystal Hill man who was reported missing late Tuesday.
The Halifax County Sheriff's Department and the Virginia State Police have been joined by local fire and rescue units in the search for Harold Ray Jones Jr.
No sign of Jones has been detected.
"We haven't even found any tracks," lamented rescuer Thomas Garber as he shook his head.
With temperatures expected to drop below freezing tonight, searchers are becoming even more worried.
"If we don't find him today, I'm afraid that we might not ever find him," Garber said.
Rescuers searched late into the evening Tuesday and Wednesday, and said that the search would continue until Jones was found.
"We've walked over a whole lot of land, and there is a whole lot more to search," said his father, Harold Jones, as he looked out over the rugged terrain.
Jones, a Vietnam veteran, is described as a white male with a receding hairline, 5' 7" tall and weighing 190 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, lives on Hodges Street just north of the Crystal Hill community.
Capt. Larry Fears said that Jones was last seen wearing a short-sleeved camouflage shirt and a hooded camouflage jacket, jeans and brown bedroom shoes.
"Jones was reported missing late Tuesday afternoon by his wife," said Lt. Steve Cassada of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department.
Jones' wife said that her husband left home around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and had not returned, Cassada said.
Police said that Jones' wife told them that the family van had been found by school children parked at the dead end of Hodges Street.
Police are using a tracking dog in the search, but report that the dog has been unable to pick up any scent.
"We are a little concerned that the dog has been unable to pick up any scent," Cassada said.
The officer said they were unaware of any physical disabilities that Jones suffered from.
"He is taking prescription medication, and could be disoriented," Fears said yesterday.
Jones' aunt, Linda Jones, confirmed that medication may play a factor in the disappearance.
"He went to the doctor recently and they put him on Xanex," she said.
Linda Jones went on to say that he had been up all night Monday night.
"He got up at 4:30 Tuesday morning and went over to Vince Loftis' house," the aunt said.
"Vince said that he was looking behind a clock for a key, saying he had to find the key because someone was after him," she added.
After leaving the Loftis home, he returned home that morning, appearing very agitated, according to his aunt.
"His wife tried to make him stop, but he was sure someone was after him trying to kill him," his aunt said.
"I think he's very confused," she said.
Police are asking that anyone with information as to Jones' whereabouts contact the Sheriff's Department at (434)476-3334 or Crimestoppers at (434)476-TIPS.

A Halifax man attempting to elude North Carolina police in a high-speed chase Tuesday allegedly tossed illegal drugs out of the window.
Anthony Tyress Jennings, 23, of Clays Mill Road, was taken into custody at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, after "stop sticks," which are placed in the road to cause flat tires, were used to disable the Dodge Avenger he was driving, The Courier-Times of Roxboro reported.
Jennings was placed in the Person County Jail but has since posted $25,000 bond.
The Halifax man faces an assortment of charges, including possession of cocaine with intent to sell and deliver, maintaining a vehicle for keeping cocaine, speeding to elude arrest, hit and run and leaving the scene of an accident, according to police reports.
He also faces misdemeanor and traffic charges, including failing to stop for blue light and siren, giving fictitious information to an officer, careless and reckless driving, failure to yield, driving left of the center line, and possession of marijuana, The Courier-Times said.
The chase began at the Innkeeper motel parking lot after Roxboro Police Department Detective Jason Howe stopped Jennings. The vehicle, Jones said, was traveling at a high speed and had made improper passes of other vehicles.
"I approached the car and asked for driver's license and registration card," Howe told The Courier-Times. "He immediately gave me his registration, but told me that he didn't have his license with him and that I could get his license information by using his Social Security number."
The officer said that when he returned to his patrol car to use the radio, the driver, who officers later identified as Jennings, pulled out of the parking lot and back into U.S. 501.
Police allege Jennings reached speeds of approximately 100 MPH during the chase.
Officers pursuing Jennings stated as they neared the location of the stop sticks, they observed items being tossed from the vehicle that Jennings was driving.
The officers later alleged that the items were illegal drugs, crack cocaine and marijuana in plastic packages.
Sgt. Mitch Carr, who joined Howe in the pursuit, told The Courier-Times that he taped the suspect (via in-car videotape camera) tossing out the contraband.
Person County Sheriff Dennis Oakley, next in the line of pursuit, retrieved the packets.
Four packets were recovered by Oakley, according to Howe.
Three packets contained crack cocaine, a total of eight grams, and a fourth contained a small amount of marijuana, according to the C-T report.

By Doug Loftis
Demolition crews were about to topple the chimney and the Italianate style brick turret at the old cotton mill when someone said, "Don't!" In fact, a number of people have echoed similar sentiments in recent days as the century-old Halifax Damask mill was being transformed into heaping piles of bricks, scrap iron, timbers and rubbish.
The razing of the cotton mill came about as the result of a federal grant that helped pay the $187,000 fee charged by the Chesapeake-based firm of Waco Demolition. The mill property lies in a flood plain and, since it was built in the late 1800s, has been inundated by the waters of the nearby Dan River more times than anyone cares to remember.
Even the mill's last occupant, Hilden America, utilized only a small percentage of the rambling structure that had slowly yielded to the elements of wind, water and time. Hilden relocated to a newer and smaller building in the Day Industrial Park west of town off U.S.58.
The massive task of tearing down and hauling away the thousands of tons of debris began in mid-February and is not expected to end until late May. As much as was possible, materials, such as steel, huge pine beams and other items having salvageable value or considered to be architecturally or historically significant, are being saved.
Some of the salvaged materials will become a part of cotton mill display in the South Boston/Halifax County Museum while other articles, such as pine flooring, will be used in the restoration of the Prizery.
A far greater volume of construction materials are either being hauled to the county landfill or buried on the site that will be leveled and converted into, mostly, a wet lands management area.
But what to do with the tower and the 135-foot tall smoke stack?
Both appear to be structurally sound. Bricks embedded into the smoke stack spell out vertically, Halifax Damask.
The castlelike brick tower with its variety of battlements, towers and arched windows seems to have captured the hearts of preservationists and historians who are urging town officials to spare the structures from demolition. The tower actually functioned as an element of the mill's fire protection system.
Near the top of the approximately 36-foot tower is a tank where water was stored. In the event of fire, water flowed from the tank to the sprinkler system and thus provided protection from the highly-flammable cotton dust that collected on practically every inch of surface throughout the mill.
Town Manager Ted Daniel is convinced that the brick building was constructed around the water tank since it would have been virtually impossible, given the building's smaller doorway dimensions, to have done otherwise.
For the two structures to remain intact, Daniel wants to be assured that both are structurally sound. Once determined, both would have to be stabilized, sealed and fenced around to prevent further erosion and possible vandalism.
Meanwhile, the town manager is soliciting public input. Address all inquiries to: Jane Jones, Town of South Boston, P.O. Box 417, South Boston, VA 24592 or e-mail: jane@sobova.com.

A man allegedly robbed and abducted at gunpoint from Prime Time Rentals last Saturday has been arrested and charged with embezzlement.
Derrick Ray Hudson, 19, of Memory Lane in Scottsburg, and said to be an assistant manager at Prime Time, was arrested yesterday at the store and charged by South Boston Police with embezzlement and filing a false police report.
Police Investigator Lt. Rick Loftis indicated he had his suspicions after hearing Hudson's account of the Saturday incident, which occurred about 6 p.m. in front of the store, located in Halifax Square Shopping Center.
"His entire story didn't pan out," said Loftis, adding that the investigation is continuing and that another arrest could be forthcoming.
Loftis said that Hudson had closed the store that night and had the store deposits with him at the time of the alleged abduction and robbery.
Police originally stated that Hudson had reportedly been approached by a black male of light complexion when he got into his car to leave Prime Time last Saturday.
Hudson had described the suspect as being approximately 6'2" in height, wearing a bright green wind suit and wearing a camouflage mask to cover his face.
In his original account, Hudson said the suspect had produced a medium-sized handgun before robbing him of an undisclosed amount of cash before forcing him to drive to an area along U.S. 360, just east of South Boston.
There, Hudson said the alleged perpetrator exited the vehicle and was last seen on foot, running east.
A canine unit called to assist in the search followed traced the suspect to a location just west of the Lakewood Mobile Home Park on Daniels Trail in South Boston, according to police reports.

Halifax County High School baseball coach Kelvin Davis sat back in his chair as he talked about his young Comets diamonders.
Throughout the conversation rang the words "young" and "talented."
There was a quiet confidence in Davis' voice.
"Hopefully, we can surprise some people," Davis said.
"The talent is there. It's just a matter of the guys getting some games under their belts. There is no substitute for experience."
Game experience, however, is where this year's Comets team is lacking.
"We lost 10 seniors from last year's team," said Davis.
"We filled every position on the field with those guys and they got the bulk of the playing time.
"We've got six players returning from last year's team," added Davis.
"But they got only a limited amount of playing time. We had guys in front of them that we felt like we had to play."
The six returnees from last year's team include senior hurler Justin King, senior leftfielder Jonathan Milam, senior second baseman Chad Conner, senior first baseman Casey Owen, senior third baseman West McDowell and senior catcher Bruce Anderson.
With the six returnees by and large having only limited playing experience, Davis has the task of molding them and his talented corp of underclassmen into a cohesive unit.
In order to do that, he has started working on the ground floor and is moving upward.
"As in anything, you have to have good fundamentals," Davis pointed out.
"Since the first day of practice we have been working on the fundamentals. This is a rebuilding year.
"We have some players who do well in game situations and we have players that do well in practice," Davis added.
"What we need right now is to see these guys in game situations so we can see who can do what the best and see what things we need to focus on the most in practice."
For a number of the players, one of big tasks at hand is simply adapting to the differences between Dixie baseball and jayvee baseball to varsity level high school baseball.
"The main thing I look at is mental preparation," noted Davis.
"We're trying to get everybody to understand how important it is to focus on a game and the different situations you are going to be in while batting, running the bases, playing defense and pitching.
"On this level there is a lot more mental preparation involved and you have to know what to do when you're faced with different situations," he added.
Davis says the good thing about this team is its attitude.
"I'm in a situation right now where I enjoy every day we go out," Davis said.
"These are good kids. They go at it and they do the things we ask them to do and there are no complaints.
"They have faith in my philosophy," Davis continued.
"These kids come out every day and do the best they can do. That's all you can ask of them."
Time, Davis said, is what this team needs.
"It takes time," Davis said.
"This is like a puzzle right now. We as a coaching staff just have to work with the kids and get the right pieces, the right people, in the right places."
Davis said this season's Comets team will mirror those of past teams in that he plans to play an aggressive style of baseball.
"We'll continue to be aggressive," Davis said.
"We'll be stealing bases, doing a lot of hit-and-run, and keeping things moving. We'll continue to play aggressive Comets baseball."
One of the ingredients needed to play that kind of game is speed. Davis says his team has pretty good speed.
"We have four or five guys that we're looking at to steal some bases for us that can get down the line pretty well," the Comets coach said.
As far as the team's hitting is concerned, Davis said he is confident his players can put the ball in play.
"We have a tremendous weight training program here with coach Fred Palmore," Davis said.
"We've gotten the guys into the weight room and we have seen improvement in some of these guys from last year.
"I don't think we will have the overall power we had last year," added Davis.
"But we'll put the ball in play. We have guys that other teams are going to have a hard time getting them out at the plate."
As far as team defense is concerned, Davis said he expects his Comets team to be sound.
"We have always had solid defensive teams," Davis said.
"We have guys in the outfield that can run the ball down and the guys in the infield know how to play their positions.
"It's just going to be a matter of getting some games under their belts."
In terms of his team's pitching, Davis will have a little more overall depth than was present last year.
Included in the pitching corp is King, who saw some quality time on the hill last year, and senior Chase Hetzell who comes to the team after transferring here last year from a neighboring high school.
Sophomore Jason Lloyd and Matt Clay, who is nursing an injured knee, could also see some quality time on the mound this season.
"Our pitching staff has a lot of potential," Davis said.
"Those guys have some live balls and have good movement with their pitches. We just need to get them up on the mound against some batters in game situations."
The Comets worked their way through a tough Western District schedule last year before winding their way along the path through the playoffs that led them to the Final Four.
This season, with the Comets in the Western Valley District which brings in Roanoke area schools Cave Spring, Franklin County and Patrick Henry to join GW of Danville and E.C. Glass, the road is going to be tough.
Last year, Cave Spring and Franklin County were in the Roanoke Valley District and were in the Northwest Region playoffs.
This year, they're in the same district with the Comets.
"What we're going to do is take it one game at a time," Davis said.
"We know all of these teams that are going to come in here have good, sound baseball programs. They all know about Halifax County baseball and that we have a tremendous baseball program here.
"There's no doubt in my mind they're going to come in here and will really be gunning for us because of what we did last year," added Davis.
"Myself and the coaching staff are not going to put any pressure on these guys. We're just going to take one game at a time and ask the guys to do the best they can do and give us a 100 percent effort."

With a dozen freshmen players dotting the 17-player roster, Halifax County High School jayvee baseball coach Shawn Torian will have a young team for the 2002 season.
But don't take this young team lightly.
There is a good wealth of talent upon which Torian and his staff can mold the team.
Whether or not this young team will be able to reach or surpass last year's 14-1 mark won't be known until the final stages of the season.
If it does, it will be quite a reward.
With Franklin County, Cave Spring and Patrick Henry having joined the Comets, GW of Danville and E.C. Glass in the Western Valley District, the level of the competition that the Comets will face has been raised.
"We're going to be coming out and facing good competition each week," said Torian who is in his second season as the head coach of the Comets.
"If we keep coming out and getting after it like we should, we should end up with a decent record.
"I'm not going to say we're going to better that one (last year's 14-1 slate) but I think that at the end of the year we can end up with a good record."
With the large group of ninth-graders who are coming into the Comets baseball program, Torian said the focus is on teaching the fundamentals.
"It's a learning process for those guys," Torian said of the ninth-graders.
"You're talking about coming to play on a larger field and playing a higher level of baseball and a higher level of competition.
"What we're doing," continued Torian, "is teaching the old fundamentals of Comets baseball that has been taught here since Scooter Dunn was coaching.
"We concentrate on teaching the fundamentals of the game and emphasize making the routine, fundamental plays and going through the season with high spirits and a good attitude."
Players returning to the Comets jayvee team this season includeChris Lowery who is expected to see a lot of action in center field, Nathan Thomas, who is being eyed as a potential starter at third base, Steven Smith, who will be looked to as a backup for Thomas at third base, Robert Carter who is expected to get the starting nod at shortstop and Ryan Roller who is expected to get the starting nod behind the plate.
All five are sophomores.
At other spots around the horn, Torian is looking to freshman Chris Perkins as a potential starter at first base with Ryan Gieselman as a possible backup.
Perkins, Torian said, "is a get down and get dirty player.
"He is solid defensively at first base. He's not afraid of the ball at all."
Humphreys is being eyed as Perkins' backup at first base.
Freshman Justin Armistead is expected to get the starting nod at second base with Blake Waller as the backup.
Torian said Armistead is a good defensive player.
"He has some of the better footwork you'll see in the younger group," Torian said.
Joey Ambrose is also being eyed as a backup at second base. Clyde Brooks is being eyed as Carter's backup at shortstop and Ryland Clark is expected to be the backup catcher.
In the outfield, possible starters include freshman Andrew Bradley in left field when he's not pitching, and freshman Jake Owen, whom Torian says has above-average range, in right field.
Torian will have a pretty deep mound staff this season with Bradley, freshman Marcus Humphreys, Carter, freshman Tyler Clark and Perkins available for duty.
Bradley, Torian said, is expected to play a key role for the Comets on the mound.
"This is his first year up on the jayvee squad," noted Torian.
"He has good control. He needs some work on the mental aspects of pitching. We need to convert him from a thrower to a pitcher."
Behind the plate, Torian has freshman Ryan Gieselman as a solid backup for Roller.
Torian said the style of play will not change - even with this young squad.
"We will stick to the basics," Torian said.
"We're going to be aggressive on the bases and we're going to be looking to make things happen."
Offensively, Torian says this team has the potential to be a consistent hitting team.
"We're not going to have many home runs," Torian said.
"But we're going to have a good percentage of doubles. We've got hitters who can make solid contact."
Torian pointed out that Thomas and Lowery are expected to put the ball into play a lot this season.
"They are what I call "gap" hitters," Torian said.
"They make good, solid contact. They have line drive powerto the gaps.
Defensively, Torian expects his team to be pretty good. He noted, however, that it will take a little time for the defense to come around.
"Everybody's range is great," Torian said.
"If the kids continue to work hard and if we can communicate with each other we should be okay."

Joyce Ann Rice Boyd

Joyce Ann Rice Boyd, 60, of Woodcrest Apartments, South Boston, died March 17 at Medical College of Virginia.
Mrs. Boyd was born in South Boston on August 27, 1941, the daughter of Ernest Eldon Rice Sr. and Minnie Mary Crews Rice. She was a member of the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah Witnesses.
Survivors include one daughter, Teresa Ann Boyd of Wake Forest, NC; two sons, Rickey Lee Boyd of Danville and Tony Wayne Boyd of Fuqua-Varina, NC; one sister, Alease Rowe of South Boston; five brothers, John Rice of Wake Forest, Eldon Rice, Allen Rice and Aubrey Rice, all of South Boston and Earl Rice of Cluster Springs; and five grandchildren. She was preceded in death by one brother, Curtis Rice.
A memorial service for Mrs. Boyd will be held Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m. at Powell Funeral Home Chapel with Elder Steve Rice conducting the service. Burial will take place in Halifax Memorial Gardens.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home one hour prior to the service.

Thelma Hendricks Cage

Thelma Hendricks Cage, 7233, of 2063 Alchie Lane, Nathalie, died March 20 at Union Memorial Hospital in Union, NJ.
Mrs. Cage was born in Halifax County on May 25, 1929, the daughter of the late Arthur Hendricks and Magnolia Crosier Hendricks. She was formerly married to James L. Cage Sr. and was a member of Millstone Baptist Church.
Survivors include her children, Rashan J. Cage of Bloomfield, NJ, Rosa M. Thomas-Jean of East Orange, NJ, Gwen L. Henderson of Memphis, TN, James L. Cage Jr. of Stone Mountain, GA, Deborah C. Bailey of Piscataway, NJ, Charles O. Rasheed of Roselle, NJ and Cornell Cage of Chatham, NJ; 19 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; one brother, Benjamin Hendricks of Philadelphia, PA; and her stepmother, Louise Hendricks of Nathalie.
Funeral services for Mrs. Cage will be held March 24 at 2 p.m. at Millstone Baptist Church with the Rev. Chester Spruill officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.

Julia Buster Hankins

Julia Buster Hankins, 107, of 10108 Clarkton Road, Nathalie, died March 17 at her home.
Mrs. Hankins was the daughter of the late Thomas B. Buster and Mary Ann Clark Buster and was married to the late Alexander Hankins.
Survivors include one sister, Mary E. Buster; one brother, James H. Buster of Nathalie and a host of other relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be held March 23 at 1 p.m. at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Nathalie with the Rev. Sylvester Crawley officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.