County residents taken in by the Town of Halifax in the December 1999 boundary adjustment cannot vote in the town's May 2 election.
The Justice Department has neither approved nor denied the town's creation of a new voting ward and boundary extensions of the four existing wards, explained Town Manager Bob Greene during a called council meeting Monday.
Two of three candidates, Gene Murray and W. Allen Stevens, vying for two at-large seats in the May election are also out of the race since they live in the newly incorporated area.
Only veteran councilman Harold Ray Younger, who is seeking re-election, is unaffected.
Younger's name will be on the ballot, but there also will be a line for a write-in vote, Greene said yesterday.
Only residents of the existing four wards may vote in the May election or be eligible to be a candidate.
The recent boundary adjustment by Halifax brought in an estimated 450 new citizens.
During the called session to discuss the issue, town council considered postponing the May 2 election.
However, the State Board of Elections notified Greene late Monday afternoon that the election could not be postponed.
Advised earlier by the State Board of Elections to amend the order of town/county boundary approval to state that the election would be held using the town's old ward boundaries, town council voted Monday to petition to amend the order.
The Board of Supervisors was asked by town officials to amend the order during its Monday night meeting. Supervisors approved the request.
Only Halifax Town Councilman S.J. "Jack" Dunavant opposed council's action to amend the court order during the Monday meeting.
"I'm voting against it because it disenfranchises the people who came into the town. It is a protest vote," said Dunavant of his opposing vote.
All of the councilmen - with only Councilman Cabell Daniel absent - agreed that the situation was unfair but said that they saw no other option.
In discussions with the Justice Department, Greene said that a spokesman told him that they would have difficulty approving the wards as presented because of the dilution of minority representation.
During the Monday council meeting, Dunavant suggested that the town return to its current four ward and two at-large councilmen representation.
"There is no way to get approval in time for the election," Councilman Younger said.
Councilman David "Buddy" Guthrie also said it troubled him to take people into the town and "now disenfranchise them."
Younger said it seemed to him that council was looking at a May 2 election and then another election after Justice Department approval.
Several town councilmen indicated yesterday that the election issue would be pursued during their scheduled meeting last night in an attempt to obtain Justice Department approval or guidance.
The town has been under a consent order since an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the town in 1988.

Double Bubbles entered the South Boston's boundaries during a joint county/town meeting Monday night with only one dissenting vote.
South Boston Councilman Richard Pond cast the "no" vote, explaining that the county must have had a good reason when drawing the new boundary to include the business within its limits, but that no one had told him why.
The councilman also told the joint gathering that when water was selling below the going price, there was no problem.
No one spoke for or against the boundary adjustment during the public hearing.
Following the hearing, and with two councilmen absent, South Boston Council voted 3-1 to take the laundromat/car wash owned by Mark and Phyliss Repokis into the town.
The Board of Supervisors, with two members absent, voted 6-0 to approve the boundary adjustment.
Double Bubbles is located on 1.1 acres fronting Route 129 near Lowe's.
Following a second public hearing, South Boston approved a special use permit application from the public school system for expansion of a bus maintenance facility and a concession stand at Tuck Dillard Stadium.
The request included a 3,000 square-foot addition to the bus maintenance facility, which included the removal of mobile units in which offices are currently located.
Also sought were a 1,922 square-foot concession stand and restroom facilities for the Tuck Dillard Stadium.
During the public hearing, Larry Roller, director of operations and maintenance for Halifax County Public Schools, spoke in favor of the project.
Balmoral property owner Robert Meeks expressed concern about the increased use of the access road, which he described as a speedway at times.
If the additions would result in additional use of the access road, Meeks said that he would oppose the construction. The South Boston resident said that he was concerned about safety, explaining that pedestrians, skateboarders, trucks and cars all used the roadway.
Roller said that the additions would not increase the number of buses or traffic in that area.
South Boston Town Council approved the special use permit and said that a vegetative screen should be planted.
Council also approved the request to build a concession stand and restroom facilities at Tuck Dillard Stadium.
Roller said the addition would help with crowd control since it would be located at the north end of the stadium.
Meeks asked if the addition would affect traffic on the access road.
Roller said that he saw no reason that it would increase traffic.
Fordland Estates
Several Fordland residents brought complaints about the sewer system before the joint session.
South Boston Town Manager Ted Daniel told the residents that the town had been smoke testing the lines and that they would use a camera to investigate lines this week.
"We know the line is blocked but don't know where," Daniel said.
The town manager also said storm surge affected the lines.
Fordland resident Mike Sizemore described sewage overflowing a manhole, and told officials that his was a "neighborhood full of kids."
He also complained of sewage odor.
Sizemore told councilmen that it took about five hours for the town to respond to the call for help when the manhole was overflowing.
The resident said that he was there to find out what was being done about the problem and whether the sewer system would be repaired and maintained.
Johnny Cole, also a Fordland resident, said that he had never experienced plumbing problems until this year.
Cole said that he did not think it was a system design problem since there had been no problem before. He said that he thought it was a maintenance or repair issue.
He, too, described a manhole full of sewage, a fact he discovered after having a plumber to repair his own line.
The businessman said that he was seeking help from the town before property damage occurred.
Approximately six other Fordland residents attended the session.
"We know that we have a problem," confirmed Daniel.
He said the town was surveying the system and that crews were checking the lines weekly to avoid problems until the system could be repaired.
"Our goal is to never have (sewer) backup," Daniel said.
The town manager said storms, a high-water table, roots, an interceptor or blockage could all play a role.
"There is nothing more unpleasant than a sewer backup," Daniel added. "We don't like it and we are going to fix it as soon as we can."
In other business, supervisors approved a request by South Boston Town Council to use the Halifax County Building Board of Appeals for both localities.
Council also asked that supervisors consider appointing a qualified representative from South Boston to the Board of Appeals when a vacancy occurs.
The Board would hear appeals from decisions made by the town fire official, building official and county building official.
A Scenic River Foundation request for a letter of support from supervisors in a bid to have the Staunton River "scenic" designation extended about 24 miles will be addressed by supervisors at their May meeting.
The new scenic section would extend from Brookneal to Staunton River State Park. The current scenic designation covers the river between Long Island and Brookneal.
South Boston Town Council and supervisors heard a report by a Dewberry & Davis Engineers representative on the county's solid waste management study.
Project manager Joe Levine recommended that the county began consolidating its green box sites, converting sites to community convenience centers.
The engineer recommended gated/attended facilities with compactors, the sites to be equipped to recycle numerous items.
He estimated a one-acre site with compactor would cost $90,000 to $100,000.
The sites would be conveniently located, clean, and have a safe entrance and exit for vehicles. Litter control is also helped by the sites, Levine told officials.
The study projected county trash needs to 2020.
South Boston Manager Ted Daniel said that the town landfill will be ready to begin receiving county trash on May 1.
The county and town will share the South Boston landfill to help the town fill for closure. At the same time, the county will make design corrections at one of its trenches.
Supervisors approved the partial abandonment of Route 812.
Supervisors took no action Monday night following a closed session to discuss two items, personnel matters and an industry/business matter.

The Halifax County Board of Supervisors will hold its public hearing Thursday night on a $43.3 million county school budget.
Thursday night's public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the public meeting room on the second floor of the Mary M. Bethune Office Complex in Halifax.
The budget, a $43,382,172 package, was adopted by the Halifax County School Board in late March.
A local appropriation of $13,299,661 from the Board of Supervisors will be needed to support that budget.
However, at a joint meeting of the two bodies in late March, supervisors, in a proposed county budget, showed a local appropriation of $12,910,601.
The result was a $389,000 gap in the amount of funds that the county was willing to appropriate and the amount of money school system officials say is needed to fund its budget.
The School Board adopted the budget during a special meeting in late March.
It held its public hearing on the 2000-2001 school budget at its April 10 meeting. However, nobody from the general public voiced comment.
Final approval of the school budget by the Board of Supervisors must come by May 1.

The county school system is staring at an estimated $110,000 loss in state revenues in the current budget year.
That loss results from a 79 student difference in what school system officials forecast a year ago for the average daily membership (ADM) this spring and the actual ADM count.
"We're going to get an estimated $110,000 less in state money than we had originally hoped we would get and budgeted for we would get," said Bill Covington, the school system's finance director.
"The (ADM) number we used was down from (the number used) a year ago. We knew there was a trend downward. But, the number decreased more than we anticipated.
"We have to guess a year in advance what the ADM number will be. When you have to forecast the future over a year in advance, it's tough," he added.
State funding for local school systems is based largely on ADM figures that are collected each March.
After the figures are compiled, the state sends revenues to the school systems based upon that count.
In the spring of 1999, school system officials, in putting together the 1999-2000 school budget, forecast an ADM of 6,156 students and based the school budget and state revenue projections on that figure.
However, the actual ADM count that emerged in March was 6,077 students, 79 students less than what was projected.
As a result of the estimated $110,000 shortfall in state revenues, school system officials will have to cast a careful and wary eye toward expenditures for the remainder of the fiscal year which concludes June 30.
"We'll definitely have to take it (the shortfall) into consideration in planning expenditures the rest of the year," Covington said.
"We may have to forego some projects and possibly delay some others until next year to offset the loss.
"It definitely puts us in more of a bind than we're already in."
The school system is already staring at some potential budget problems for the 2000-2001 school year.
In March, the Halifax County School Board adopted a record $43,382,172 budget package, a budget package that requires $13,299,661 in local funds from the Board of Supervisors.
However, at a joint meeting with the School Board, the Board of Supervisors, in its proposed county budget, showed an appropriation to the school system of $12,910,601.
That has resulted in a gap of $389,000.
School system officials had indicated earlier that an estimated $300,000 in state lottery funds could be made available to help narrow that gap.
However, that situation may now be even more critical in view of the new shortfall in state revenues.
The School Board held a public hearing on its budget at its April 10 meeting. However, there was no public comment.
Thursday night, the Board of Supervisors will hold its public hearing on the county school budget.
That public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary M. Bethune Office Complex in Halifax.
The Board of Supervisors has until May 1 to approve the school budget.

Just under two inches of rainfall brought on by a rapidly-advancing weather front Monday night has caused rivers and streams to swell but not enough, say officials, to produce any major flooding. A measured 1.8 inches of rain fell in South Boston but north and west of here in places such as Roanoke, the storm accounted for as much as three inches of rainfall plus some damaging winds and hail.
The Dan River at Paces is, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, expected to peak this afternoon around 16.25 feet. Flood stage is 19 feet.
Upstream at Paces, the predicted crest today is between 13.5 and 14 feet.
In neighboring Campbell County near the Gladys community on Monday afternoon, a confirmed twister was reported but was not known to have caused any major damage.
A lightning strike near Hodges Street in South Boston and left an estimated 375 Virginia Power customers in the dark for almost two hours.
Police and firemen sealed off the area until repair crews arrived but, prior to then, a spectacular light show resulted while the energized lines made contact at the intersection of Marshall Avenue and Hodges Street.
Full power was restored around 10:45 p.m.
Yesterday morning, an estimated 75 Virginia Power customers were without electricity in the areas of Routes 659 and 682 because of weather-related incidents according to Emmett Toms, resident manager for the utility company.
Most of the rainfall should be gone by today and temperatures are expected to rise into the mid-70s. Tomorrow's highs should reach the lower 80s and come Friday, rain moves back into the forecast.

By The Associated Press
Severe weather pelted much of Virginia on Monday, bringing with it power outages, rock slides and hail the size of golf balls, meteorologists said.
Up to two inches of rain peppered parts of Virginia, said Philip Manuel, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Interstate 81 was shut down briefly in two spots in Montgomery County, both due to rock slides. The highway was never closed for more than 10 minutes.
More than 3,000 homes in eastern Virginia were without power at about 9:30 p.m. when lightning struck transformers, said Virginia Power spokesman Tom Kazas. Crews were still working to restore power by 11:30 p.m., he said.
In Christiansburg and the New River Valley, meteorologists reported six to nine inches of hail, Manuel said.
''It looked like snow,'' he said. ''It was almost like people needed to shovel themselves out.''
There were at least two unconfirmed reports of tornadoes throughout the state, he said.
The forecast for Wednesday called for mostly cloudy skies and scattered showers, Manuel said.

John Boyd captured a majority of the delegates at the Halifax Democratic caucus on Saturday.
Boyd, a Mecklenburg County farmer, received commitments from 11 delegates at the caucus. The one alternate delegate selected at the caucus also supported Boyd.
Alan Hale received commitments from two delegates, while five remain uncommitted.
Hale, a Charlottesville surveyor and Internet bookseller, is second in the state delegate count, with 49 commitments, trailing Boyd with 113.
At this point, 97 delegates out of the 260 selected statewide remain uncommitted.
Rustburg High School will be the site of the Fifth District Convention on Saturday, May 20. The nomination will be decided at that convention if neither of the candidates wins a majority of delegates in the caucuses.
The winner will face Rep. Virgil Goode (I-Va.) in the November election.

Alvin O. Myers II has been named one of Virginia Power's 10 "Volunteers of the Year."
An auger operator for Virginia Power, Myers was recognized for his volunteer work at the Oak Level Volunteer Fire Department and County EMS softball field, the Cluster Springs Halifax County Dixie Youth softball field, and the South Boston/Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts and History.
He also coordinated a refurbishing project at Womack ball field in the Vernon Hill area.
He is a volunteer fire fighter at the Oak Level Volunteer Fire Department and County EMS and serves as the department's chaplain.

Myers has taken on a number of projects to help raise funds for the volunteer fire department, including umpiring for fundraising softball tournaments, conducting raffles and turkey shoots, and coordinating a "Halloween Spook Trail" last fall.
The Oak Level man and the other nine honorees received special recognition at a banquet held in Richmond last week. Susan Allen, the wife of former Gov. George Allen and a strong supporter of corporate volunteerism, was the featured speaker at the ceremony.
Virginia Power's Employee Volunteer Program was organized 15 years ago to provide an effective way for the company's employees to make contributions of their time and effort to their communities.
Since its inception, volunteers have contributed more than 1 million hours to projects ranging from cutting wood to helping the needy stay warm, to community recreational projects and working with local youth groups.
Nearly all volunteer hours are contributed on the employee's time, although company equipment may occasionally be used to support worthy projects. In November 1999, the volunteer program received the Governor's Community Service and Volunteerism Awards. The program was honored in 1989 with the President's Volunteer Action Award.

The Halifax County High School and Holy Cross varsity softball teams are locked in a deadlock.
And, it will be a month before either team will know who the winner of Monday's game here will be.
Early evening thunderstorms forced a premature halt to a dandy of a game that had stretched into extra innings and was deadlocked at 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning.
The game will be resumed with one out in the top of the ninth inning when the Comets travel to Lynchburg May 15 to face Holy Cross in a return engagement.

Both teams had virtually the same number of hits with Halifax County getting seven hits and Holy Cross getting six.
The Comets got two hits from Amberly Moon and a hit each from Shonda Welch, Anna Lewis, Branda Best, Lindsay Stolzenthaler and Nicole Davis.
It was Welch, though, that saved the game, at least to the point at which it was concluded.
Her two RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed the Comets to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
Holy Cross jumped into the lead in the top of the second inning, taking advantage of five hits and two Comets errors to ring up a 4-0 lead.
The Comets came up with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lewis walked and Jennifer Armistead was hit by a pitch to get two runners on the sacks with one out.
Lewis and Armistead stole and base to advance to third base and second base respectively. A passed ball allowed Lewis to score the first run and Armistead advanced to third base.
Stolzenthaler flied out to right field, allowing Armistead to score the Comets second run and make it a 4-2 game.
The Comets had what appeared to be a good opportunity to score in the bottom of the sixth inning when Best bunted her way on base and moved to second base on a sacrifice fly to left field by Armistead.
Stolzenthaler came up with a two out single that allowed Best to move to third base. But, the next Comets batter, Joni Foster, struck out to end the inning that saw the Comets leave two runners stranded on the sacks.

The Comets needed two runs entering the bottom of the seventh and final inning to tie the game and stay alive.
And they got them.
Halifax County got back-to-back leadoff base hits from Davis and Moon to kick off the bottom of the seventh inning and got the runners over to third base and second base respectively when Brandi Conner came up with a sacrifice bunt.
A triple by Welch scored the two Comets runs to tie game at 4-4 with one out.
Lewis reached base on a bunt hit but Welch was unable to score on the play and remained at third base, giving the Comets two runners on base with one out.
Best attempted a bunt to move the runners but the ball popped up and the Holy Cross pitcher grabbed it for the second out of the inning.
The inning ended when Armistead struck out but the Comets had done what they needed to do by that time to send the game into extra innings.
Both teams went up and down in order in the eighth inning.
The game was stopped in the top of the ninth inning after the first Holy Cross batter in the inning popped up to second base.

Getting refocused.
That's the chore that Halifax County High School baseball team faces as it heads into Thursday's Halifax County High School Spring Invitational Baseball Tournament.
The Comets will face Dinwiddie at 12 noon Thursday in the opening game of the round-robin affair.
After facing Dinwiddie in the tournament opener, the Comets will come back Thursday night to face Northern Durham at 7 p.m. in the last of the day's three scheduled contests.
The Comets will play again Friday, facing Franklin County at 7 p.m. in what will be the final game of the two day tournament.
With Thursday's tournament opener, the Comets will be seeking to get back on the winning track after being handed a 2-0 no hit shutout loss to Albemarle Friday night in Charlottesville.
"We've got to get refocused quickly and try to come out of the tournament with three wins," said Comets coach Kelvin Davis.
"We had a really good practice Monday. We just did the routine things but the guys had a really good attitude about practice. Now we're focusing on Thursday."
Davis points to the Halifax County High School Spring Invitational Baseball Tournament as a big series of games for his team.
"The tournament is big," Davis said.
"We've got to take one game at a time starting with Dinwiddie."
The Comets will be facing a tough opponent in Dinwiddie.
"I don't know anything about them as far as this year," Davis pointed out.
"But, based on past experience, Dinwiddie usually has a pretty solid ball club. They do a lot of things like hit and run and bunting the ball to move runners. Dinwiddie plays a good fundamental game. We've got our work cut out for us."
Davis says the key to his team's success will be how well it executes the basics.
"The guys just have to go out and play the game that they have been playing and the game we've been coaching," Davis pointed out.
"We've talked about it. They know they have to make the plays."
The Comets had run up seven consecutive wins before being tagged with a 2-0 no-hit loss to Albemarle Friday night in Charlottesville.
It was the first loss for the Comets this season and it dropped their record in the Western District to 1-1.
Yet, it was one of those losses in which the team played well. Big breaks for Albemarle on two crucial plays late in the game proved to be the difference in the outcome.
Davis says he is confident in his team and feels that they can rebound from the defeat.
"I don't feel that the guys really got down on themselves," Davis said.
"They (the Comets players) had nothing to be ashamed of. Albemarle got the breaks in the latter part of the game and that was it."
Dinwiddie, Northern Durham and Franklin County will host Halifax County in the four team tournament.
Northern Durham will square off against Franklin County at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the middle game of the day's three game slate.
Friday's early action will have Dinwiddie facing Northern Durham at 12 noon and Dinwiddie turning right around to play Franklin County in the day's second game at 3:30 p.m.

Bessie Jones Hankins Mills, formerly of Halifax, passed away on April 17, 2000, at her daughter's home in Virginia Beach.
She was born on March 31, 1922 in Mullins, West Virginia, and was the daughter of Holt Easley Hankins and Minnie June Bailey Hankins. She was the wife of the late John Blanks Mills and was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Halifax. She was an avid bridge player.
Mrs. Mills leaves one daughter, Barbara Goodwin Swanton of Virginia Beach; two sons and daughters-in-law, Holt Easley Hankins Mills and Elizabeth Surber Mills of Halifax and Leslie Dibrell Mills III and Ruth Ann Mills of Knoxville, Tenn.; six grandchildren, Greg Olive of Virginia Beach, Mike Gunter of Winchester, Sandy Gunter Higdon of Front Royal, Lisa Gunter of Cave Creek, Ariz., Joe Mills, of Chesterfield, and Laura Mills of Knoxville; and five great-grandchildren, Ryan, Ashley, Andrew Gunter, and Kyle and Sean Higdon. She was preceded in death by one grandson, David Andrew Mills of Halifax. She is also survived by one sister and brother-in-law, Catherine Hankins Fletcher and Fred Fletcher of Jacksonville, N.C.
A funeral service for Mrs. Mills is scheduled for 3:00 p.m., April 21 at St. John's Episcopal Church, with interment in the church cemetery. Her family will receive friends at the home of Holt Mills, 163 Cedar Lane in Halifax on Thursday and Friday, April 20-21.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked that contributions be made to the Hospice Foundation.