Several members including the ring leader of a Virgilina crack operation were sentenced in Halifax County Circuit Court Monday.
James Corey Young, 24, of Virgilina Road, frowned and shook his head as he listened to Halifax County Circuit Court Judge William L. Wellons sentence him to 5 years and five months in prison for his role as the ringleader of a crack operation run out of a house on Cemetery Road that law enforcement officers considered the equivalent of a drive-through fast food restaurant.
Young was one of a number of people arrested when agents from Tri-County Drug Task Force culminated a six-month investigation with a 1 a.m. raid of the residence January 30, 1998. Also arrested were Christopher Allen Ellis, 23, of Durham, N.C., Mack Arthur Kincy, 32, of Loftis Road, Virgilina, Lawrence D. Robinson, 19, of Charlie Lawson Road, Virgilina, and John Calvin Smith, 33, of Epps Fork Road, Clarksville.
During the raid agents seized weapons, including a 9 mm TEC-9 semi-automatic assault weapon and a sawed off .30-.30 caliber rifle, illegal drugs and $4,000 in cash. Agents said "customers" continued to knock on the door even after the raid was completed.
Young was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine to a minor, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute a cocaine, and possession of a firearm while in possession of cocaine. He was convicted of these charges last December in Halifax County Circuit Court.
Commonwealth attorney John E. Greenbacker emphasized Young's eight year criminal career and pointed out the tattoos decorating the young man's arms, using them to illustrate his characterization of the Newark, New Jersey native as a career criminal.
Greenbacker described how the tattoo on one of Young's arms read "Trust No One" and the one on the other arm depicted a skull and a gun.
"That is an individual who has pretty much decided what his life is going to be," Greenbacker said. "Mr. Young's operation was like a black hole...constantly sucking in people and items, and this will continue unless eliminated."
Wellons sentenced Young to 20 years with 15 years suspended on the distributing cocaine to a minor charge and suspended all but five months of a 20 year sentence on the possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The judge suspended all of a 10 year sentence on the conspiracy conviction, and also gave Young a suspended five year sentence for possession a firearm while in possession of cocaine.
The suspended sentences were based on the condition of Young's good behavior for a 25-year period. Young was also sentenced to two years probation following his release from prison.
While the court agreed to continue both the Ellis and Kincy cases, Wellons went ahead with both Robinson and Smith's sentences.
Wellons sentenced Robinson, who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in December, to 10 years in prison with all time suspended but two years and five months on condition of his good behavior for a 10-year period. Robinson, who was ordered to remain drug free, will also be required to complete two years supervised probation following his release from prison.
Smith received a five year and a 30 day suspended sentence for possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana, respectively.
Wellons suspended both sentences on condition of Smith's good behavior for a period of five years, sentenced him to two years active supervised probation and ordered him to remain drug free.

Hogs, Clover's waterworks/water and sewer, and public hearings dominated the county supervisors' meeting Monday night with decisions taken to fund waterworks repair at the former town and to change billing and institute a single rate.
Halifax County Administrator Dan Sleeper told supervisors that up to $73,000 is needed to sandblast and paint the Clover water tower, which was an expected expense when the county took over the former town, and to install ash injector equipment to address the copper level in the water, an unexpected expense.
The county already has been cited in violation by the state Department of Health under the Lead and Copper Rule treatment technique requirements.
Supervisors unanimously approved taking emergency action to address the problem.
The money to pay for tower work and to purchase the new injector equipment is be borrowed from the county's general fund for the Clover Enterprise Fund. Sleeper said the loan is to be paid back by the Enterprise Fund (the Clover users) with interest over a five-year period.
The Board also approved an amendment to the county code to integrate the water and sewer rates for Clover.
There will be no increase in the current rates but billing will be done monthly rather than bi-monthly. There will be a decrease in out of town rates since there is no longer a town. No one spoke to the issue during the Monday night public hearing.
The new Clover rate will be $8.75 monthly. Under the bi-monthly billing system rates were $17.50 for town and $25 for out of town.
Based on the December billing, Sleeper said "a rough estimate of 23 percent less revenue" was received by the county than the former Town of Clover had received.
Facing increased Clover expenses, the Finance Committee is to study the Clover water/sewer costs in depth and make recommendations during the budget process, according to county officials.
In other business, supervisors also unanimously passed a Public Nudity Community Standards Ordinance, action the Halifax County Ministerial Association sought over a year ago.
Ministerial Association member Bob Fox was among those speaking in favor of the ordinance. "No one is going to claim the barbarians are at the gate," said Fox. But he said action now offered an "opportunity to be pro-active" before there is a problem.
Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker also spoke in favor of the ordinance.
While noting that obscenity law is "an area of law fraught with controversy," Greenbacker described commercial activities like those which would be affected by the local public nudity ordinance as a "commercial activity that has a way of attracting other problems," naming prostitution and drugs among those problems.
Supervisors unanimously passed the Public Nudity Community Standards Ordinance following the public hearing.
Supervisors also heard the first of two public hearings concerning a Community Development Block Grant the Halifax Educational Foundation (HEF) is seeking through the county for the Continuing Education Center.
CEC coordinator Amy Lammerts also addressed the HEF proposal. Supervisors set the second public hearing in the application process for April 5.
"We are in the process of preparing a proposal and looking at what the final figure will be," said HEF executive director Shannon Plaster yesterday, when asked the amount of funding sought.
"We are working directly with the county and Southside District Planning Commission," said Plaster, in preparing the application.
"The purpose of the hearing last night was to determine the community need for this project, and we feel that was done because education is the key to the future of community," said Plaster. The second hearing, she said will be more specific.
In the HEF presentation, it was noted education is key to improving the area's current rate of unemployment and the lives of 16 percent of local citizens who fall below the poverty level, as well as the more than 50 percent of the adult population over the age of 25 who do not have a high school diploma.
The new facility is seen a expanding programs and encouraging the expansion of existing industry and the recruitment of new industry to the community.
The HEF Continuing Education Center project - located in 70,000 sq. ft. tobacco warehouse next to the Prizery in downtown South Boston - carries a total project cost of $3.5 million.
HEF officials hope to have the center open and ready for occupancy sometime in the fall of the Year 2000.
Initially, approximately 20,000 square feet of the 70,000 warehouse will be renovated at the new CEC site, according to Plaster.
CEC opportunities will continue to include GED seminars as well as offer the certified nursing assistant program and target a workforce training piece, which Plaster described as a link to economic development.
Supervisors also:
--- Approved a conditional use permit for a diesel repair and state inspection station on River Road, 0.5 mile east of the Pittsylvania County line sought by George and Brenda Stevens. The permit carries five conditions.
---Set public hearings for a request for rezoning for 0.9 acre parcel from a split A1/R2 status to commercial classification.
Seymour and Fannie Barnes are seeking commercial status for a convenience store with or without gasoline sales, fast food restaurant at the Halifax site. The property is located at northwest corner of the intersection of Route 501 and Route 360 with a portion of the site within the Town of Halifax.
The Planning Commission will hold an advisory hearing on the Barnes' request March 30 and supervisors will hold a public hearing at their April 5 meeting.
---Supervisors will reconvene on Monday, March 22, at 6 p.m. in the Mary Bethune Complex Conference Room in Halifax with the Town of South Boston to discuss urban issues and comprehensive plans of mutual interest. The Town of Halifax Council also has been invited to attend the session.

On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision not to review an Iowa court decision striking down a "right-to-farm" law, Halifax County supervisors once again took Solomon's seat as their neighbors argued the pros and cons of hog farming before them Monday night.
No Board action was taken.
Setbacks for hog operations were presented to supervisors last month by the Halifax County Planning Commission.
Supervisors continue to wrestle with air, water and pollution concerns aired by Southside Concerned Citizens as well as the cases posed by supporters of the confined animal feeding operations.
"Dr. Susan Shiffman, whom Dr. Williams introduced as a world renowned expert on odor and its effects on human health, stated "that odors 1,500 feet from a hog barn can be as strong as odors at the barn," said SCC chairman Jack Dunavant.
Noting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, Dunavant said "it is evident that Halifax County needs to have setbacks from adjacent property lines greater than 1,500 feet. If we do not, we are certainly threatening the property values and health of neighbors and Halifax County will face a myriad of lawsuits."
Dunavant also offered a report to supervisors from the North Carolina Health Department describing adverse health effects experienced by people who live near a confined hog facility.
Dr. Hal Ashley, a pathologist at the hospital since 1991, warned of diseases associated with swine.
"In this case," Dr. Ashley said, he was interested in "the prevention of outbreak of diseases."
He also described the hog industry as "trying to move into soft areas" as they seek new territory for the hog operations and worried the county would be asking for more serious medical problems from dust and other factors associated with hog farms.
Bob Cage warned of the power being given up to increasingly powerful corporations with "no roots and no souls," who, if they find a way to raise hogs cheaper, could leave workers behind.
Calling the hog issue a thorny and emotional one, he issued a plea for clean air and water for the next generation.
Wayne Dudley, who worked with environment issues with an industry before retiring, said he was "concerned about regulations" he had read in nutrient management plans as well as DEQ standards.
The question of cost of new technologies to farmers in the future to secure repermitting was also raised by Dudley.
"The hog industry is not farming," said Ward Burton.
Noting the still unanswered questions about the CAFOs, Burton said it was up to the county assure setbacks for all landowners.
"No one wants to live near one of these industries," said Burton.
Perhaps a compromise between SAFE and Concerned Citizens could help you, suggested Burton. "We have got to protect the quality of life."
SAFE SPEAKERS
Hilton Hudson told supervisors he thinks there should be a level playing field for farmers. "We all have to eat," said Hudson, who said he never plans to raise hogs.
Concerning spray setbacks for hog operations, Hudson suggested 'the state pays for easement".
"This is land we borrowed money on, are using and taking care of," said Jay Reese. "We are the environmentalists who have always taken care of the land."
Reese and other South Central Agriculturists for a Safe Environment speakers noted North Carolina State University nutrient and lagoon expert Dr. M. Williams noted pollution traced in the Neuse River basin revealed commercial fertilizers and municipalities high pollution, one during high flow and the other during low flow.
Stephen Woltz, a local farmer, said when he returned here he "didn't know so many people in Halifax County were against agriculture here." Woltz said there was a confined animal feeding operation on campus at Virginia Tech, one not heard, seen or smelled.
No drop in property values because of hog farms, the popularity of Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a tourist destination - with no drop in land values, was also noted by the farmer.
He said a five-mile setback proposed by the Town of Virgilina could impact all agriculture, particularly a large cattle farm near the town.
South Central Agriculturalists for Environment (SAFE) chairman Tucker Watkins said "public policy should be made on facts."
"I think one of the interesting things Dr. Williams said while he was here was that there have been no scientific measurements done on odor. Setbacks have been set on emotion," said Watkins following the meeting.
"I think the key thing is that nutrification of the river, which is sometimes linked to pfisteria, is coming from towns, municipal waste in low flow and fertilizers from many sources in high flows," added Watkins.

South Boston authorities are still searching for the source of nearly 1,000 gallons of motor oil that seeped into the town's sewer system last week.
"We're still trying to pin down the source," South Boston Town Manager Ted Daniel said Tuesday, a week after the substance was discovered in a segment of the sewer located along Route 58 near Southern States Coop Petroleum Products.
Daniel said the "spill" was found shortly after 11 a.m. by town public works employees who were investigating a partial blockage in the sewer system the morning of February 23.
"The sewer was high at the metering station there so they went out to investigate for a partial blockage. Then, when they opened the manhole cover, they could see the sewer was full of water with something coating the surface," Daniel explained.
Since there was no way at that point to determine what the substance was or if it was toxic, the town contacted William Murray, Chief of the South Boston Fire Department, and also contacted the South Boston Police Department to help determine the source of the contamination.
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was also contacted, as was the Richmond Emergency Services, to test the substance for toxicity, Daniel said.
The town hired some tankers and pumped that portion of the sewer out, then allowed the liquid to settle before pumping the water out of the bottom.
"We pumped the oil and the sewage into the tankers and had it tested at the DEQ in Richmond and the Richmond Emergency Services to find out if it was safe to go ahead and burn it at the Electric Generation Plant at the Halifax County Industrial Park," Daniel said.
According to Daniel, the DEQ determined the substance to be some type of motor oil.
"We're just lucky it wasn't toxic and that we found it before it got to the sewage treatment plant," Daniel said. "As it was, it caused a lot of consternation, and there was the cost of getting the tankers."
The sewer system remains under surveillance as the investigation into the source of the contamination continues, Daniel said.

Halifax County Circuit Court Judge William L. Wellons sentenced a South Boston man to 19 years in prison for rape Monday.
"You have committed one of the most serious offenses," Wellons said to James Alexander Dunn, 30, of Bold Springs Road, as he sentenced him to serve 19 years in prison for abducting, assaulting and raping a 39-year-old woman in a tobacco field near Turbeville after a party in May of 1998.
Before he was sentenced, Dunn asked the court to have mercy on him and offered apologies to the victim and anyone else hurt by his actions last May. He also apologized for disgracing his family name.
Wellons sentenced Dunn to 50 years with 35 years suspended on the rape conviction; 25 years with 21 years suspended on the abduction conviction; and 12 months in jail with all time suspended on the assault conviction on the condition of Dunn's good behavior for a 50-year period.
As a condition of his good behavior, Dunn, whose name will be entered in the registry of sexual offenders, was ordered to have no contact whatsoever with the victim. He was also sentenced to two years probation following his release from prison.
Also sentenced in Halifax County Circuit Court Monday were:
* Gary Dardell Boyd, 33, of Piney Ridge Road, Nathalie, was sentenced to five years with all but time served suspended for possession of cocaine, and 30 days in jail for attempting to obstruct a law enforcement officer and possession of marijuana. Wellons ordered Boyd to complete one year of supervised probation and to stay drug free.
* Damon Demetrious Brown, 25, of River Road, South Boston, was sentenced to three years with all but 12 months suspended on condition of his good behavior for a three year period for his conviction of driving after being declared an habitual offender. Wellons authorized work release for Boyd.
* John Archie Hamlette, 54, of German Creek Road, South Boston, who was convicted of driving after being declared an habitual offender, was sentenced to three years with all but 12 months suspended and remanded to jail.
* Latroy Lee Saunders, 20, of Bane Street, South Boston, was remanded to jail after being sentenced to 10 years with all time suspended but seven months on condition of his good behavior for 10 years for a conviction of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He was ordered to remain drug free and complete two years supervised probation following his release from jail.

A trio of Halifax County men pleaded guilty of robbing two country stores in Halifax County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Rodney William Deal, 34, and James H. Martin III, 26, both of South Boston, and 23-year-old Tony R. Prevette of Alton pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the December 1997 armed robbery at Moore's Country Store and the January 1998 armed robbery at the Love Shop Market.
Halifax County Investigator C.A. Bates provided Circuit Court Judge J. Stevens with an overview of the crimes and testified that in the two robbery cases Deal was the gunman, Martin acted as lookout from inside the stores, and Prevette was implicated as the "wheelman" and never went inside.
After hearing testimony and reviewing the evidence, Stevens found all three men guilty of robbing Stephen and Barbara Moore at Moore's Country Store, robbing the Love Shop Market, and use or display of a firearm during a robbery in both cases. Deal and Martin were also convicted of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. Statutory robbery charges in both cases were nol prossed.
In addition to the charges stemming from the two robberies, the three men were found guilty of breaking into the office of Elizabeth W. Candler, DDS, between Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, 1998, and stealing clothing, dental instruments, and other items valued under $200.
A grand larceny charge was amended in this case to misdemeanor petit larceny for all three men.
Grand larceny and petit larceny charges stemming from the theft of a Remington shotgun from Gary Smith's truck Jan. 1, 1998, were merged into one grand larceny charge, of which all three men were convicted.
Deal also pleaded guilty to and was convicted of breaking into Scott William Sanford's home near Virgilina July 4, 1998, and stealing several firearms, a gold watch, a jar of coins, approximately 50 compact discs, a VCR and a stereo system.
The co-defendant in this particular case, David Howerton, 23, of Alton, will be tried at a later date as his case was continued.
Stevens ordered a presentencing report be prepared for Deal, Martin and Prevette for a May 19 sentencing.
Deal and Martin were returned to the Halifax County Jail where they have been since they were arrested late last year, while Prevette, who has been out on bond since his arrest last September, was allowed to remain free on bond until he is sentenced in May.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced yesterday that there would be no change in the flue-cured tobacco no-net-cost assessment of 2 cents on each pound of 1999-crop flue-cured tobacco that is marketed.
CCC's analysis considered potential losses on current inventory and potential 1999-crop loans projected over the normal sellout period of 5 years. After considering inventory losses and application of no-net-cost assessment funds to cover such losses, CCC set the no-net-cost assessments at 1 cent per pound for the producer and 1 cent per pound for the purchaser for crop year 1999. The corresponding assessment for imported flue-cured tobacco will be addressed at a later date.
The Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation, the producer-owned association through which price support is made available for flue-cured tobacco, was consulted before the no-net-cost assessments were set.

A funeral service for Minnie Bray Walton, a retired school teacher, was held at 10:30 a.m. at Mt. Comfort Memorial Gardens in Alexandria on February 22, 1999.
Mrs. Walton, 96 years of age, died in a nursing home in Richmond on February 18.
She was a daughter of the late Lelia Carrington Bray and Samuel David Bray of Halifax County. For 47 years she taught first grade in Halifax County, Richmond and Alexandria. She was a former member of Millstone Baptist Church in Halifax County and a member of Downtown Baptist Church in Alexandria.
Survivors include two sisters, Maggie Bray Wilburn of Richmond and Mildred Bray Arendall of Bassett; one step-daughter, Edith Walton Lovell and her husband, Arthur C. Lovell of Silver Spring, MD; and a number of nieces and nephews.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Millstone Baptist Church, Nathalie, or your favorite charity.

Dewey Wilson Ferrell of 2009 Oak Level Road, Halifax died Sunday, February 28, 1999 at Halifax Regional Hospital. He was 83 years of age.
Mr. Ferrell was born in Halifax County on March 27, 1915 the son of Armistead Ferrell and Beulah Crenshaw Ferrell and was married to Neva Alderson Ferrell.
Mr. Ferrell ran the D.W. Ferrell Store at Oak Level for 50 years. He was active in the Oak Level Volunteer Fire Department, serving in his later years as a charter member and an honorary member. He as active in Oak Level Presbyterian Church, first as a deacon, as an elder and a church trustee. He was a member of the Woodmen of the World Camp 127 at Vernon Hill.
Survivors include his wife of the home; one step-daughter, Patricia Rutherford Hellyer of Rockville, MD; two step-sons, James Wayne Rutherford Sr. of Vernon Hill and Ray Warren Rutherford of Cluster Springs; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; one brother, Fred Ferrell of Roanoke; and one sister, Sudye F. DeJarnette of Albermarle, NC.
Funeral services for Mr. Ferrell will be held today, March 3 at 3 p.m. at Oak Level Presbyterian Church with Rev. Dr. Russell Lee conducting the service. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.