By JAN CIENSKI
AP Business Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Bank customers across Virginia will notice something different over the next few days as signs for Signet, Central Fidelity and Jefferson Bankshares are replaced by those for the two powerhouse North Carolina banks that gobbled them up last year.
Signet Banking Corp. was acquired last year by Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union Corp. for $3.3 billion. Wachovia Corp., headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Atlanta, bought Central Fidelity Banks Inc. for $2.3 billion. Both Virginia banks were based in Richmond.
Until now, the Virginia banks have retained their old names and signs. But on Thursday, the signs outside Signet branches and the stationery used inside were changed to reflect the bank's new ownership.
''This is the day the switch is flipped,'' said Laurie Hedrick, a spokeswoman for First Union.
Central Fidelity and the smaller Charlottesville-based Jefferson Bankshares Inc. will undergo the same change starting Monday, said Wachovia spokesman Ken Brown.
Both Wachovia and First Union will allow Virginia customers to continue using their existing bank cards and checks until new ones are issued.
A customer at a downtown Richmond Signet branch said he had noticed the change of ownership.
''I don't particularly like the idea that it is based in North Carolina,'' said Fred Royal, who has banked with Signet for 25 years. ''I'm going to come in and talk to someone about it.''
Signet's takeover has closed 97 branches in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Ms. Hedrick said. Seventy-eight were Signet branches and the rest were First Union.
The merger has also cost 1,300 jobs.
Brown did not know how many people would be lose their jobs in the Wachovia acquisitions, but 62 Jefferson and Central Fidelity branches will be closed because of the takeover.
The First Union-Signet merger made sense because the two banks had complementary strengths, Ms. Hedrick said. Signet had a strong presence in central Virginia and Maryland while First Union had branches in western Virginia.
''If you would have flown over our footprint from Key West to Connecticut, you would have seen a significant hole in the Virginia, Maryland region,'' Ms. Hedrick said. ''It's a growing, vibrant region with a lot of opportunities.''
First Union was also trying to keep up with rival Wachovia, which had just swallowed up Jefferson Bankshares and Central Fidelity. Before that acquisition, Wachovia had no retail presence in Virginia.
''On the surface they were both very rational deals,'' said David M. West, an analyst with Davenport & Co.
The mergers have put North Carolina banks firmly at the top of Virginia's bank ratings. First Union is the largest, followed by Wachovia and Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank. Richmond-based Crestar Financial Corp. is the fourth-largest bank.
North Carolina banks grew so quickly because the state has a tradition of liberal banking laws, West said.
North Carolina allowed statewide banking in the 1940s while Virginia did the same only in the late 1970s. When banks were allowed to cross state lines in 1985, North Carolina banks had built up a huge advantage, West said.
''North Carolina was unusual in being so progressive in allowing statewide banking as early as it did,'' West said. ''It made (North Carolina banks) far larger than anything in Virginia.''
Halifax Fire Department officials said yesterday they do not know what caused the early Saturday morning fire in the press room at the J.M. Huber plant in Crystal Hill.
Richard Dunavant, the chief of the Halifax Volunteer Fire Department, said yesterday that the actual fire damage that could be outwardly seen "appeared to be minimal" but that he had no way of knowing how much actual damage may have resulted to any of the hydraulic equipment or electrical systems in the building.
That, information, he said, would have to come from plant officials.
Dunavant said that the fire department was called at about 4 a.m. Saturday.
"Their fire brigade was in there fighting the fire when we got there," explained Dunavant.
"What we did was assist plant personnel in extinguishing the fire."
Seventeen Halifax firemen responded to the call and took two fire engines, a tanker, and equipment truck to the scene. Approximately a dozen South Boston firemen responded and brought a ladder truck and equipment truck to the plant.
Fire fighters needed about an hour to bring the fire under control.
Firemen were on the scene for about three hours.
By The Associated Press
Tobacco farmers across North Carolina are keeping a wary eye on Washington as Congress considers the proposed $368.5 billion settlement to end 40 state health-related anti-tobacco lawsuits.
Cigarette-makers have agreed to pay the money over 25 years and curb tobacco marketing. In exchange, the manufacturers would get immunity from state lawsuits and limits on Food and Drug Administration regulation.
The settlement likely will result in changing, or perhaps even eliminating, the federal government's 60-year-old tobacco price-support system.
''We're all afraid with the agreement that we're going to come up short,'' said Trudy Early, who farms 160 acres of tobacco in the rolling hills of North Carolina's Piedmont.
When she and her husband look back, they see three decades of success on their Gibsonville fields. Ahead, there's a nagging uncertainty.
Some lawmakers have pledged that farmers will be compensated for the hit to their lucrative industry.
''My goal is to protect the tobacco farmers from being trampled on in some kind of mad political rush to solve the tobacco problem,'' said Rep. Thomas Ewing, R-Ill., who heads a House agriculture subcommittee dealing with tobacco.
''They have spouses and children and debt. They have lives. They have aspirations. It isn't the American way to take a swipe at the tobacco industry and leave those 124,000 tobacco farmers laying prostrate on the ground.''
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., proposes buying out farmers' allotments at $8 a pound and ending the price-support system. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., includes the $8-a-pound buyout in his plan, and proposes a semi-private licensing program to replace the current price-support system.
A third plan would maintain the tobacco program and create a system of income supplements and buyouts if the program is ever abolished. Congressmen from North Carolina, where the tobacco crop nets more than $1 billion a year, worry that ending the price-support system would end tobacco farmers' livelihoods.
''This would move them from work to welfare if you wipe out the opportunity for them to earn an honest living from the soil of the Earth,'' said Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.
No farmers in North Carolina are more dependent on tobacco these days than those in the northern Piedmont. No Tar Heel farmers have a longer or richer history when it comes to growing tobacco for cigarettes, either.
The process of flue-curing tobacco - which for the first time produced a light-bodied leaf that could be easily inhaled by cigarette smokers - was invented on a Caswell County farm in 1839. It was that innovation that eventually allowed Piedmont natives such as James Buchanan Duke and Richard J. Reynolds to build global cigarette empires.
And no farmers in North Carolina are likely to have their lives changed more dramatically than those in the Piedmont if the government decides to do away with the price-support program.
''Tobacco is the only thing that we can grow at a profit here in the northern Piedmont,'' said Richard Newsome, who grows tobacco in Stokes County, just as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather did. ''The farms are way too small to grow anything else and make money. Tobacco is it.''
In Stokes, tobacco sales accounted for 81 percent of total farm revenue in 1996, the highest percentage in the state. Other counties of the northern Piedmont followed: Caswell at 79 percent; Person at 70 percent; Granville at 63 percent; Durham at 63 percent; Rockingham at 61 percent; Vance at 57 percent; Forsyth at 56 percent.
While counties in the northern Piedmont are heavily dependent on tobacco for farm revenue, North Carolina's top tobacco-growing counties are located to the east.
But closer to the coast, the land is flatter and richer, and farms are much more diversified, raising hogs and a variety of field crops to go along with their tobacco.
Pitt County, for example, was the top tobacco county in the state in 1996, producing almost $59 million in leaf sales. That was more than 2 1/2 times what was produced by farmers in Stokes. Even so, leaf sales were responsible for 37 percent of Pitt County's overall farm revenue.
Agricultural experts say it is more expensive to grow tobacco in small, rocky plots in the foothills of the northern Piedmont than in the larger, flatter and more fertile fields of the Coastal Plain. Without the tight constraints and government-supported prices of the program, most tobacco production probably would have shifted out of the Piedmont to more efficient growing areas years ago.
''The growers in the Piedmont have to contend with all the other usual perils of tobacco farming, plus the topography,'' said Blake Brown, an agricultural economist at N.C. State University in Raleigh. ''That has made it that much harder for them to mechanize their operations and diversify into other products, like their counterparts in the eastern part of the state.''
Keith Beavers, a tobacco grower in Duplin County, also farms corn, soybeans, sweet potatoes and beef cattle. But when it comes to money, nothing matches tobacco, he said.
''When you go to the bank, the man wants to know how much tobacco you have,'' said Beavers, 50. ''He doesn't care about all the other stuff.''
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Jim Smith isn't a tobacco grower, doesn't roll cigarettes for Philip Morris and doesn't smoke, but when the tobacco industry sneezes, his business catches a cold.
Smith is the owner of a small machine shop in Chesterfield County which makes parts for a major equipment supplier for Philip Morris.
Last fall, Philip Morris canceled orders for that supplier - Molins Richmond Inc. - to rebuild 15 high-speed cigarette-making machines. And since Molins is a major customer, it hurt Smith's business.
''If they're not rebuilding machines, then I don't sell as many parts,'' said Smith, owner of Falling Creek Metal Products. ''That hurts our profit.''
Smith has avoided laying off his three shop workers, ''but I can see that coming if they get too hard on the tobacco business.''
Many small businesses have seen a gradual decline of business with Philip Morris and other cigarette makers.
''All I hear are politicians saying we've got to protect the farmers, but a small businessman will have more difficulty finding new business,'' Smith said.
Philip Morris officials estimate that they spend about $1 billion a year buying goods and services from 1,000 Virginia businesses. That doesn't include about $110 million spent each year on Virginia tobacco, spokesman Dan Ison said.
Even before it was hit with hundreds of smoking-related lawsuits, Philip Morris was cutting its base of suppliers. Many longtime suppliers have lost multimillion-dollar contracts.
''We went from having Philip Morris be our single-largest customer to zero, within 45 days,'' recalled George Sydnor, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw Group Inc.
McGraw, one of Richmond's oldest companies, was paid about $1 million a year to provide a broad range of industrial supplies and equipment to Philip Morris' cigarette-making operation.
His company has survived, and grown, by finding new customers outside Virginia. Sydnor said he has ''no animosity or bitterness'' toward Philip Morris but said the experience changed the flavor of the tobacco business forever.
''I think they'll never capture the loyalty of suppliers again,'' he said.
Ernie Whitlock, purchasing manager at Molins, said his British-based company has been forced to lay off workers during the past year, both here and in England.
''The cigarette companies as a whole canceled a lot of potential rebuild jobs,'' Whitlock said.
In all, at least 20 members of the machinists union were laid off at Molins in November, Whitlock said.
''When Philip Morris has a runny nose, everyone else has the flu,'' said Stephen Spain, who represents 500 machinists at the cigarette maker.
No real damage was done as the rain swollen Dan River crested nearly two feet above flood stage early yesterday morning.
Modesto Vasquez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, said yesterday that at 2 p.m. the Dan River was receding and was at 20.54 feet, still more than a foot and half above flood the 19 foot flood stage.
However, Vasquez said that the waters were expected to fall below flood stage late tonight.
South Boston has had more than its share of rain over the past few days, receiving 2.5 inches between 7 a.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, .23 inch from 7 a.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday, 1.1 inches between 7 a.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday , and .1 inch between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. yesterday.
In all, South Boston has received 3.93 inches of rain in the period from 7 a.m. Wednesday until 7 a.m. yesterday according to measurements taken at the South Boston wastewater treatment plant.
Vasquez noted that the storm system that rumbled through Central and Southside Virginia over the weekend brought between one and two inches of rain.
The National Weather Service meteorologist said that rainfall amounts ending from 7 a.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Saturday totaled 1.10 inches in Halifax County, 2.01 inches in Brookneal, 1.63 inches in Lynchburg, 1.75 inches in Appomattox, 1.73 inches in Huddleston, 1.15 inches in Rocky Mount, and 1.37 inches at Meadows of Dan where the headwaters of the Dan River are located.
Over the ensuing 24 hour period which ended at 7 a.m. yesterday, most localities received another tenth of an inch or so of rain.
Meanwhile throughout the state, when it comes to rain, pace is everything.
Less than 12 weeks into 1998, much of Virginia has already received almost half of its average annual rainfall, yet because of the slow but steady pace of the precipitation, flooding has been kept to a minimum.
'Rain has come in increments that have each time brought us to the brink of serious flooding problems, but we have not quite gone over that critical edge,'' said researcher Jerry Stenger of the state climatology office.
Most of the state received more than 12 inches of rain in January and February, Stenger said, a record everywhere except northern Virginia, where slightly more fell in the first two months of 1979.
But mild temperatures kept the ground from freezing, and that allowed the soil to absorb the rain until it reached the saturation point.
''It's amazing,'' Mike LaCivita, spokesman for the Department of Emergency Services, said Friday as more rain fell. ''We're doing something right in the state and God must love us. I hope we all realize that.''
Meteorologist William Sammler of the National Weather Service said before Friday's sporadic rainfall over much of the state, Richmond had already received 18 1/2 inches of rain, 43 percent of its yearly average.
Roanoke, Norfolk and most other localities were on similar paces, he said, but the rain has not been as destructive as some storms in recent years.
''Most really destructive flooding has been a result of flash flooding, when we got five, six, eight, even 10 inches of rain in a very short period of time,'' Sammler said. ''That causes very small streams and creeks and rivers to rise very rapidly and form what people call a wall of water.''
In early February, two storms less than a week apart caused flooding and millions of dollars in damage along the coast in Hampton Roads, but much of the water came from ocean waves that washed away beaches and bulkheads.
And in the summer of 1996, three hurricanes hit Virginia, with high winds and flooding caused by Fran killing 13. That storm caused $338 million in damage statewide, and 88 counties qualified for federal disaster relief.
On Friday, officials were watching the Meherrin River in Lawrenceville, which was expected to crest between 11 p.m. and midnight at up to 13 feet above flood stage. LaCivita said only moderate flooding was expected.
Even so, he said, history has taught him to be cautious.
''It all may change,'' he said. ''You never can tell.''
William Poindexter of Hamilton, NJ, formerly of Halifax County, died Sunday, March 15, 1998 at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, PA at the age of 77.
Mr. Poindexter was born in Halifax County on August 17, 1920.
Survivors include a devoted friend, Hattie Gillard of Hamilton; four sisters, Elsie Easley and Muriel Graham of Hartford, CT, Bernice Hunter of Clinton, MD and Kelly Dillard of Callands; one brother, Deacon Warren Poindexter of Nathalie; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Poindexter were held Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at Millstone Baptist Church with Rev. Chester Spruill officiating. Burial was in Sunflower Baptist Church Cemetery.
John Arthur Harris of Washington, DC, formerly of Halifax County, died Saturday, March 14, 1998 at Washington Hospital Center at the age of 52.
Mr. Harris was born in Halifax County on September 2, 1945.
Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Womack Harris; one daughter, Rose Harris of Vernon Hill; two grandchildren; one sister, Mary Harris of Vernon Hill; four brothers, Ras Harris, Robert Harris, Leroy Harris all of Halifax, and Charlie Harris of Albany, NY; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Harris were held Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m.
at Mt. Pleasant CME Church with Rev. Ronald Dean officiating with burial
in the church cemetery.
William Andrew Womack of South Boston died Monday, March 16, 1998 at Berry Hill Nursing Home at the age of 77.
Mr. Womack was born in Halifax County on August 28, 1920.
Survivors include one daughter, Mary Ann Womack; three sisters, Adele Brooks, Elizabeth Powell and Delois Womack; three brothers, Caleb Womack, Charlie Womack and Jimmy Womack; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Womack were held Friday, March 20 at 1 p.m.
at New Zion Baptist Church with Revs. Willie Yancey and Louis Leigh Sr.
officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.
Nannie Emma Marshall of Vernon Hill died Tuesday, March 17, 1998 at her home. She was 77 years of age at the time of her death.
Mrs. Marshall was born in Halifax County on October 10, 1920.
Funeral services were held Saturday, March 21 at 1 p.m. at New Vernon Baptist Church with Rev. Roger Ford officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery.
Mrs. Marshall is survived by four sisters, Elizabeth Venable of Danville,
Sudie Holt, Carrie Delaney and Brady Owen, all of Halifax; one brother,
Arthur Goode of Danville; and other relatives and friends.
Almeda Carter Kyhos, 87, of South Boston died Friday, March 20, 1998.
Mrs. Kyhos was the widow of Frank Kyhos. She was a graduate of Mars Hill College, taught school a number of years and was retired from Kemper Insurance Company of Chicago, IL.
Survivors include her sisters, Billie Thomason of South Boston, Ruth Rockwell of Chase City, Polly Coleman of South Hill and Odessa McNeil of Richmond.
Funeral services were held Sunday, March 22 at 2 p.m. with Rev. Bryan McChesney officiating.
Terry Thornton Glass of Richmond died Friday, March 20, 1998 at Chippenham Medical Center. He was 96 years of age.
Mr. Glass was born in Halifax County on August 13, 1901 the son of James Edward Glass and Emma Compton Glass and was married to Verona Trent Glass. He was a member of Southside Baptist Church of Richmond.
Survivors include his wife; one son, Terry E. Glass of Richmond; one daughter, Nancy L. Glass of Richmond; three brothers, Sampson M. Glass of Nathalie, Wilson W. Glass of Rustburg and Hubert S. Glass of Sebring, FL.
Graveside services for Mr. Glass will be held today, March 23 at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Republican Grove with Rev. Shelton Miles officiating.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider The International
Mission Board SBC or Patrick Henry Boys Home in Brookneal.
Hilda Herring Wimbish, born April 14, 1911 in Wayne County, NC, the widow of Eppa Yeadon Wimbish, died March 20, 1998.
She is survived by her son, Eppa Yeadon Wimbish IV; one daughter, Melissa Wimbish Ferrell; three grandchildren, Aleta Raye Wimbish, Lacy Spotswood Ferrell and Laura Walton Ferrell; two brothers, Esten Lewis Herring and Donald Patrick Herring; three sisters, Louise Herring Parker, Nellie McCowan Herring and Judith Herring Trotter.
Mrs. Wimbish was a member of Catawba Baptist Church in Nathalie, where she was pianist for many years. She was Past President of the Halifax Women's Club, a member of Berryman Green Chapter of D.A.R., and early President of the Halifax Community Hospital Ladies Auxiliary.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 28, at Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Plantation, Inc., Route 2, Box 125, Brookneal, VA 24528.
Ryan Jeffrey Murray, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Jeffrey Murray, died Wednesday, March 18, 1998 at Forsyth Memorial Hospital.
Surviving are his parents; his grandparents, Ina Dillard and Fred Johnson of Winston Salem, NC, Rev. and Mrs. Horace Murray of South Boston, and his great-grandfather, Richard Murray of Rocky Mount, NC.
Private graveside services were held Friday, March 20 at Crestview Memorial Park in Rural Hall, NC by Rev. Tim Gammons.
Levi Wilkins of Vernon Hill died Wednesday, March 18, 1998 at his home at the age of 64.
Mr. Wilkins was born in Petersburg on June 27, 1933.
Survivors include his wife, Rose Mae Wilkins; one son, Kenneth Coleman Wilkins of Virginia; five grandchildren; three sisters, Deloris Thompson, Theda Cherry and Chairmane Archiebald, all of Tacoma, WA; other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Wilkins will be held today, March 23 at 1 p.m. at Womack Chapel Holiness Church with Elder Joseph Dixon officiating. Burial will be in the Coleman family cemetery.