RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gov. Jim Gilmore, stung by Democratic criticism of his refusal to boost benefits for jobless textile workers, has proposed spending $4 million for health care services in high-unemployment localities.
''The sudden loss of jobs at the Tultex Corp. has left many families with no health care and no place to turn,'' Gilmore said Friday. ''I have outlined a proposal that directly targets relief to the regions of Virginia where unemployment is highest and health care benefits are lacking most.''
Unemployment has hit about 20 percent in Martinsville and 15 percent in Henry County since Tultex filed bankruptcy and closed its Martinsville plant in December. Gilmore opposed a plan by Democratic lawmakers to increase unemployment benefits by up to $100 a week for laid-off workers in the area.
Gilmore has proposed raising maximum unemployment benefits by $36 a week statewide, but legislators said something also needed to be done to make up for the workers' loss of health insurance.
Gilmore's new proposal would designate $2.45 million to expand primary care services through local health departments. His plan also would keep free clinics open longer, add another full-time physician to the staff of a community health center that will open in Martinsville next week, enable the Salvation Army to help families facing eviction or disruption of utility service, and distribute one-time cash supplements of up to $500 per family in the affected areas.

The South Boston Police Department honored four officers and one citizen Friday for their efforts in saving a man from a burning building.
Recognized were officers Tim VanAernem, Mike Moreno, Dan Fraizer and Russell Nicholson, and citizen Dick Walker Jr.
The officers were responding to a February 19 house fire on Poplar Creek Road where there was a report of someone trapped in the house.
A grandson of the victim discovered the fire and was able to break a window and call the victim to that location.
When officers arrived on the scene, the fire was fully involved. Officer Dan Fraizer attempted to enter the home through the front door, but was forced back by flames and smoke.
VanAernem was lifted up and into the window near where the victim was lying. He was assisted by Moreno, Nicholson and Walker in an attempt to move the victim from the house.
VanAernem managed to move the victim closer to the window before being overcome with smoke and heat.
The four officers then lifted Walker up to the window and he was able to get the victim to the ledge of the window where the officers helped pull the pair out of the house.
The officers were presented the department's commendation for lifesaving.
Walker, for his efforts, was presented the Distinguished Civilian Award by the department.

Sixty-five Halifax County tobacco farmers and quota holders have signed on to the class action lawsuit that has been filed against the cigarette manufacturers, 14 attorneys general from states which signed the 1999 National Tobacco Grower Settlement Trust and J. Phil Carlton.
Throughout the tobacco-growing region almost 4,300 growers and quota holders have signed on.
The suit, filed by Alexander J. Piers Jr., lead attorney for the growers, seeks to recover damages suffered by 520,000 tobacco growers and quota holders.
Attorneys in the case allege that the defendents, acting as a buying cartel, conspired to replace the quota and price-support program with a free-market system more to their liking, according to papers filed with the court.
"The Cartel had the muscle to accomplish this through a clever circumvention of the Congress, thereby avoiding imposition of unwelcome terms and conditions," the suit alleges.
The suit is seeking the $18 billion the quota was valued at before the 1997 quota cuts.
It is also seeking taxes that would be due on such payments to the plaintiffs, about $5 billion.
Because violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act are alleged, any award would automatically be trebled.
In this case, total award being sought would be $69 billion.
Those from Halifax County who have signed on to the class action lawsuit include:
Weldon L. Anderson, Nathalie; William T. Arrington, Virgilina; Clyde Bales, South Boston; Robert W. Bates, Vernon Hill; Orie C. Baynes Jr., Clover; Mitchell J. Blanks, South Boston; Robert T. Blount, Clover; Cecil L. Bowen, South Boston; Doris L. Bowen, Virgilina; Thomas O. Bowen Sr., Virgilina; Henry L. Chappell, Vernon Hill; Jackie A. Chappell, Vernon Hill; Melvin M. Cole, South Boston; Phillip S. Coleman, Alton; Wallace A. Comer, Virgilina; Walter Cove, South Boston; John M. Crews, Nathalie,
Also, Israel Davis, Vernon Hill; Kenneth M. Dawson, Nathalie; Marvin E. Dawson, Nathalie; James E. Farmer, Vernon Hill; Michael Farson, Vernon Hill; George W. Farson III, Vernon Hill; James E. Fears, Halifax; Harold W. Ferrell, Vernon Hill; Louis Ferrell, Halifax; Louise C. Ferrell, Halifax; Barkley Fisher, Nathalie; George B. Francis, Halifax; Alice F. Gravitt, Virgilina; Luther H. Guill, Scottsburg; Johnie T. Harris, Virgilina; Ned C. Henderson, Halifax; Stover O. Howerton, South Boston; Thomas Y. Hundley, Halifax; Louis Ingram, Nathalie.
Also, Stanley T. Langford, South Boston; Thomas Langford Jr., Scottsburg; Wayne T. Lowery, Virgilina; Dwight Matthews, Virgilina; Lawrence Matthews, Virgilina; Scott A. Matthews, Virgilina; Herbert W. McBride, Nathalie; Nannie R. McKinney, Halifax; Dale E. Miller, Virgilina; Donald W. Morris, Virgilina; Henry Murray, Virgilina; Walter G. Oakes Jr., South Boston; Harold Owen, South Boston; Charlie J. Phillips, Virgilina.
Also, Earl B. Phillips, South Boston; Frederick F. Reaves, Virgilina; Walter R. Robertson, Virgilina; Charles E. Salley III, Halifax; Danny Slayton, Vernon Hill; Theodore Tucker, Vernon Hill; Carl H. Ward Jr., Halifax; William B. Weatherford Jr., Halifax; Tommy H. Whitlow, Virgilina; Sherry R. Wilborne, Clover; Vivian E. Wilborne, Clover; Kenneth W. Wilmoth, Clover; James Wilson, Virgilina; James Wilson, South Boston; Frances M. Womack, Vernon Hill; Mildred L. Womack, Vernon Hill; Ronnie B. Womack, Vernon Hill.

By BOB LEWIS
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The state Senate passed a bill Friday to limit bonds corporations would post to appeal costly out-of-state verdicts, a move that would shield tobacco giants such as Philip Morris from a pending judgment in a Florida multibillion-dollar lawsuit.
The legislation, which Gov. Jim Gilmore is expected to sign, caps bonds required to appeal punitive damages judgments at $25 million, protecting assets corporations have within Virginia.
Philip Morris, which is based in New York but operates the world's largest cigarette plant in Richmond, is among five tobacco companies in a class-action lawsuit in Florida. They could face billions of dollars in damages if they lose, forcing the companies to post billions of dollars in cash or assets as bond while the judgment is appealed.
Estimates within the industry have placed the possible punitive  damages from the lawsuit brought on behalf of Florida smokers as high as $300 billion.
David Million, a professor of corporate law at Washington and Lee University, questioned whether one state has the authority to limit appeal bonds set by courts in other states.
''This is a surprising development, and it raises some serious  constitutional questions,'' Million said.
''How can you do it? Florida has the authority to govern access to its own courts, and the appeal bond is one of the rules set up to maintain its own judicial system,'' he said. ''States are supposed to respect each other's judgments.''
Gilmore persuaded Del. Eric Cantor, a fellow Republican, to  introduce the bill last month. The bill never mentions Philip Morris or the word ''tobacco,'' and Cantor said Philip Morris was never mentioned to him in regard to the bill.
The link to Philip Morris was drawn in a story published by The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk.
''I am not characterizing it as a Philip Morris bill,'' Cantor said. ''This allows for a defendant in a lawsuit to avail itself fully to the appeals process. No entity in the United States could withstand a $300 billion appeal bond.''
The measure passed the House of Delegates 98-0 and the Senate 33-6.
Sen. Madison E. Marye, D-Montgomery, questioned Friday whether the bill was an effort to protect Philip Morris from vulnerability in the Florida lawsuit.
Sen. Thomas E. Norment, R-James City County, argued that the bill would benefit any corporation in Virginia, ''but I would acknowledge that Philip Morris potentially would be one of those corporate citizens who would be covered.''
Marye said he sensed that the bill was intended to protect one industry.
''There were a few of us that were convinced that something fishy was going on,'' Marye said. ''I smelled something and it wasn't tobacco smoke.''
Gilmore's spokesman, Mark A. Miner, denied that the bill was intended to solely benefit Philip Morris.
''This was something the governor did to protect the working men and women of the commonwealth of Virginia, not just Philip Morris. There are the workers in tobacco plants, growers down on the Southside, dock workers in Hampton Roads,'' Miner said.
Anne Morrow Donley of the Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public asked Attorney General Mark L. Earley to determine whether the bill is constitutional.
''What lessons in morality, character and good citizenship do we convey to children we rear or mentor or teach in school when we are seen as a state willing to subvert the U.S. Constitution in a desperate attempt to protect an industry which continues to knowingly produce an addictive drug that kills one out of every three customers when used as intended?'' Donley wrote in a letter to Earley. ''How different is Virginia, then, from say Colombia?''
Philip Morris employs nearly 7,000 people at its Richmond factory. Tobacco is Virginia's leading cash crop and is a $5 billion-a-year industry in the state. It is grown on about 8,400 Virginia farms.
Since 1996, tobacco interests have contributed $385,507 to Virginia legislative candidates, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a consortium of news agencies that maintains a database of campaign contributions.

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Farmers once depended on tobacco companies,  with deep pockets and slick images, to lobby lawmakers in their behalf.
Not anymore.
''The public image of tobacco is Philip Morris. That's become a problem,'' said Paul Hornback, president of the Lexington, Ky.-based Council for Burley Tobacco.
''We're going out and doing the lobbying on our own,'' he said. ''We feel like to put farmers' faces on an issue lends a lot more credibility.''
Whether that's working remains to be seen.
More than 200 tobacco farmers visited Capitol Hill last week to lobby for a number of things including tax relief and trade policies that would enable them to export more leaf.
The effort came just a week after growers visited the White House to talk with Clinton administration officials about their concerns.
Julius Johnson, chief administrative officer for the Tennessee Farm Bureau, said farmers have sharpened their political skills because they realized they are their own best advocates and they wanted to protect their livelihood.
He pointed to the recent 45 percent reduction in the amount of burley tobacco farmers can grow this year as a major setback.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture fixes the annual quotas based on purchasing intentions, exports and existing tobacco stocks.
The farmers say the tobacco companies are partly to blame for the quota cut, claiming manufacturers are importing cheaper tobacco from overseas.
''Imports have increased,'' U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., said. He said 90 percent of cigarettes made in the United States in the 1960s were made with domestic tobacco. Now, he said, just 60 percent of cigarettes made domestically contain U.S. tobacco.
Fletcher also points to USDA statistics that show 3.3 million pounds of burley tobacco, used primarily in cigarettes, were imported in 1969. By 1997, that figure was 229 million pounds.
Philip Morris Co. has not increased its imports in the last few years, said Mike Farriss, a company vice president. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. cut their imports 9 percent each year for the past two years, company spokesman Mark Smith said.
Neither company would identify how much tobacco they import overall. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Many farmers also are upset with a Philip Morris announcement that the company would seek to buy tobacco directly from farmers rather than relying solely on an auction system.
''There's a sense they're trying to abandon the federal quota system,'' said Perry Dykes, a northeast Tennessee farmer and director of the USDA Farm Service Agency for Washington and Unicoi counties.
Dykes said the federal quota program and the auction system keep tobacco prices stable and ensure small farmers can compete.
''It would eliminate the small farmer,'' he said of the contracting plan.
Farriss said farmers have nothing to worry about. ''We are going to be partnering with both large and small farmers,'' he said.
Even as growers become more independent, they are forming new coalitions. In some instances, they have paired with unlikely allies.
Dozens of organizations representing tobacco farmers and public health organizations signed a joint statement of principles in March 1998.
They agreed the Food and Drug Administration should have some authority to regulate tobacco products and that there should be mechanisms to prevent some tobacco imports. They also stated their support for the tobacco production control program.
While the two sides don't agree on everything, the relationship has become stronger over the past two years, said Scott Ballin, a consultant to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Farmers and manufacturers have referred to themselves in the past as part of a ''tobacco family.'' But Ballin says those days are over.
''The tobacco family has broken up. Companies are on the outside,'' he said.
Not so, said Smith, of Brown & Williamson.
''Tobacco growers are absolutely critical to this industry,'' he said. ''Their voice is very, very important.''

Scottsburg Mayor Ricky Gordon has announced that he will not seek re-election in the upcoming May 2 election.
Gordon, who took over as mayor of the Town of Scottsburg after the resignation of former Mayor Jean McDonald, added he will not accept the post even if he were elected as a write-in candidate.
"I feel burned out," said Gordon.
"I don't feel I'm effective in this position anymore. I think we've done some good things (in Scottsburg) and we're headed in the right direction. I feel like it's time for someone else to take over."
The deadline for individuals wishing to file and qualify as candidates in local town council posts is 7 p.m., Tuesday, according to Halifax County Registrar Judy Meeler.
Gordon has been associated with the Town of Scottsburg for 16 years and served on the Town Council for eight years.
Gordon was vice mayor when McDonald resigned. He succeeded her as mayor.
After finishing out the remainder of McDonald's term, Gordon was elected mayor four years ago. His term expires at the end of June.
"I feel I've gone as far as I can go," Gordon stated.
"That, the work I'm doing (as a teacher at Halifax County High School), and other interests I have, make it difficult for me to attend local meetings.
"I'd rather someone else step up and take it," Gordon added. "And, I'll support them all I can."
In South Boston, Chris Elliott and Coleman Speece are circulating petitions in a bid for a council seat.
Speece said last week that he "is definitely running" in the May election.
Although he is circulating petitions, Elliott has not formally announced his candidacy, a family member said Friday. Elliott was out of town and unavailable for comment.

A Virgilina man has been arrested and charged with interfering with emergency communications in Person County.
John Goodridge Snead Jr., 23, of Virgilina, was charged last week by the Person County Sheriff's Department in a case that had drawn the Federal Communication Commission's attention.
Person County Sheriff Dennis Oakley said that Snead interfered with emergency medical services, the sheriff's department and the Roxboro Fire Department radio channels.
Oakley said that Snead talked and played music over the emergency channels.
The sheriff said that he warned Snead over the radio channel that he was violating an FCC law because he was unauthorized to be on the channels. "But he continued to do it," added the sheriff.
"The FCC was in the process of tracking him," Oakley said.
The sheriff described Snead as "a ham radio operator with a license." He said the Virgilina man had radios in his truck.
"I would not mess with the FCC," the sheriff added. "When you start playing with emergency communications, they are there for one purpose, the public safety. It might save someone's life."
Snead, who faces a Class II misdemeanor, posted $500 bond and was released.
"It is very serious even though it was a misdemeanor," Sheriff Oakley said. "What if someone had gotten hurt?"
The sheriff said that if an officer is down and can only key the microphone, everyone's attention turns to that frequency "because you don't know" what is happening. "It is a big deal to me because I don't want anyone to get hurt," added Oakley.
Snead, who works in Person County, was described by Oakley as very cooperative when he was apprehended.
In other police reports:
Bobby Clark, 25, of Randolph, was arrested yesterday and charged with fraudulent conversion and property removal, a felony.
The alleged offense was committed on January 26. Deputy J.D. Clay was the arresting officer.
· A Vernon Hill woman was arrested Friday and charged with issuing a bad check.
Wanda Hubbard, 42, is alleged to have passed a check on July 19, 1999, knowing that insufficient funds were available in her account to cover it, according to information contained in the arrest warrant. Deputy Thomas Lewis was the arresting officer.
· Samuel Richardson, 40, of South Boston, was arrested Saturday by officer Darnell Barksdale, and charged with the assault and battery of Debbie Palmer, a family or household member.
The alleged incident took place earlier in the day.
· Steven Chappell, 21, of South Boston, was arrested Friday and charged with the assault and battery of a family or household member by threat of bodily harm.
According to arresting officer Darnell Barksdale, Chappell is charged with the assault and battery of Pamella Chappell.
The alleged offense took place the previous day.

Supervisors face a full agenda tonight, including public hearings on subjects ranging from the Virginia International Raceway to cable television.
The meeting gets underway at 7 p.m. in the Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax. Public hearings begin at 8 p.m.
The public hearing agenda includes the following:
·Blue Chip Racing Resorts seeks an annual operating permit for the 2000 season of the Virginia International Raceway. The Halifax County Planning Commission has unanimously recommended approval, but with conditions.
·Proposed amendments to Halifax Code of 1977, as amended regarding cable television systems: to amend and readopt the section of the code which authorizes the Halifax County Board of Supervisors to license and regulate cable television systems, and to grant one or more nonexclusive franchises for cable television systems. Also, a proposed cable television system franchise agreement with SVHH Cable Acquisition, L.P.: d/b/a/ Adelphia Cable Communications, to grant a nonexclusive franchise conveying the right to construct and operate a cable television system in the county for 10 years.
·Also on the supervisors' agenda, a public hearing seeking input on the expansion of the Halifax County Continuing Education Center in relation to a Community Development Block Grant.
·A public hearing seeking input on the supervisors' intention to abandon Secondary Route 812, from 0.21 mile north of the intersection of Route 832 to Dead End, for a total distance of 1.00 mile, is also on tap.
Although a budget presentation was listed on the agenda, county staff was still working on a draft budget late last week, according to interim county administrator Julia Moss.
Budget work sessions will continue this month as supervisors move through the budget process, adopting a final draft no later than June 30.
Supervisors anticipate increased local funding needs of over $3 million this year for the school system as a result of changes in the composite index.
The index was frozen for five years following South Boston's reversion from city to town status, a freeze that ends with the new budget year. The change will be reflected most dramatically in state funding for schools here.

Alvirga Jones Allen, 76, of 3023 Mt. Laurel Road, Clover, died March 1, 2000 at the Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mrs. Allen was born in Halifax County on October 31, 1923, the daughter of the late Richard Roberts and Luella Lacks Roberts. She was married to the late James "Buster" Allen and was a member of the St. Matthew Baptist Church.
Her survivors include two daughters: Sandra Jones of Richmond and Karen Wilson of Clover; son: Ronald Jones of Richmond; grandson: Michael Hall of Richmond; three sisters: Flossie Bannerman of Clover, Fannie Bell Richardson of Richmond and Lillie Lucas of New York; brother: John Roberts of New York.
A funeral service will be held Monday, March 6 at 1 p.m. at the St. Matthew Baptist Church with the Rev. Whitfield Scott officiating. Burial will follow in the Roberts family cemetery.

Althea C. Blanks, 78, of Richmond, died March 4, 2000.
Her survivors include her daughter and son-in-law: Nancy and Jimmie Wood; son and daughter-in-law: Richard and Connie Blanks Jr.; two sisters: Elsie Smith and Betty Burton; three grandchildren: Leah Woods, Jennifer LeDeux and Tommy Blanks and a great-grandchild.
Mrs. Blanks was preceded in death by her husband: Richard Blanks Sr. and grandchildren: Brian Wood and Laura Nichols.
Visitation will be held at Morrisset Funeral Home, 6500 Iron Bridge Rd., Richmond Monday, March 6 from 6-8 p.m.
A graveside service will be held Tuesday, March 7 at 2 p.m. at Halifax Memorial Gardens.

Grace Snipes Hoyle, 87, of Chase City and formerly of Richmond, died March 4, 2000.
Mrs. Hoyle was married to the late Clary Hoyle and was a member of Black Branch Baptist Church.
Her survivors include her daughters and sons-in-law: Betty and Clyde Newton of Suffolk, Rebecca and Dr. D. Gwynn Davis of Midlothian and Barbara Snead of Scottsburg; son and daughter-in-law: Robert Hoyle and Bonnie Hastings; sister: Mae Wilson of Chase City; nine grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, March 6 at Black Branch Baptist Church with the Revs. Douglas Gibson and Kevin Eley and Dr. Gwynn Davis officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.