The county real estate tax rate will drop, but the utility tax rate on commercial and industrial customers will rise, according to the tentative figures of the 1998-99 Halifax County budget.
The proposed budget was outlined at $54,468,312, which creates an initial $410,000 shortfall in terms of expected revenue, County Administrator Dan Sleeper told the Halifax County Board of Supervisors Monday night during their regular monthly meeting.
To offset that shortfall and to balance the budget, Sleeper proposed an increase in the utility tax on commercial and industrial customers from the current one percent in excess of $100 per month to two percent in excess of $100 per month.
That utility tax increase will be charged only to commercial and industrial customers for telephone, gas, and electric services. Residential customers will not be effected, Sleeper pointed out.
Meanwhile, the real estate tax rate will drop from 38 cents per $100 of assessed value for the 1997-98 budget to a proposed 31 cents per $100 of assessed value for the 1998-99 budget.
However, revenues from the real estate tax rate will increase because of this year's real estate reassessment, Sleeper said.
Projected revenues from the real estate tax for 1998-99 is $4,123,524, an increase from the previous budget of $4,082,697. By state law, an increase of only one percent can occur after a reassessment, which caused the drop to the 31 cents per $100 level, officials explained.
Those figures are based on a total assessed value in the county of $1,402,190,055, according to Sleeper.
The board voted to advertise for a public hearing for the budget which will be held on Monday, April 20 beginning at 7 p.m. The meeting will take place in the second floor public meeting room of the Mary Bethune Office Complex in Halifax.
There will be two different hearings during the April 20 meeting, with public input for the school board request to begin at 7 p.m. and public input for the general budget scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Continued redevelopment of the historic tobacco warehouse and processing industry district remained a major focus with South Boston Town Council at its April meeting Monday night.
The redevelopment is being done in cooperation with the Halifax Educational Foundation, which seeks to relocate and expand the Continuing Education Center there.
Council gave the project a ringing endorsement with the approval of two grant applications to go along with a previous $250,000 contribution to the project.
Council okayed the $2,000 funding of a planning grant, with which the governing body hopes to obtain a $700,000 grant for actual site work.
Ken Poore of K. S. Poore & Associates was awarded the contract to prepare the planing grant, which will attempt to persuade the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to approve the $700,000 block grant.
Council feels South Boston qualifies for the large grant because it targets an area long in neglect and in need of repairs to survive. One qualification for approval is that the grant funds will "serve to eliminate slums and blight."
The Halifax Educational Foundation proposes to develop the area west and south of Seymour Drive, just off Factory Street. It will have the assistance of the town's quarter-million dollar grant and similar grants from the Virginia General Assembly and ODEC.
In addition to the grant, Council also expects to donate five small residual parcels of property that will be used as part of the effort to create a "sort of downtown campus atmosphere with open spaces," said Poore.
Council approved a cash contribution of $1,500 for the planning grant process, "to show this is an important project," Poore said.
Already established in this area is The Prizery, also being assisted by the town.
The revitalized district has the potential for attracting other suitable development, Poore suggested. "You may develop all the way to the Norfolk and Western station," he said.
Council also appropriated a sum "not to exceed" $500 to prepare the instruments to transfer the properties once that move is approved.
One of the five parcels is an alley, which will be evaluated by a Board of Viewers for a recommendation, and there will be a public hearing on the subject May 4. The alley closing fee will be waived by the town.
Planning and work on the project will proceed rather quickly, according to a timetable laid out by Poore.
The planning grant request can go in on April 17, with possible approval in June. The contract can be approved by late August and the project wrapped up by March of 1999.
Meantime, a small historical site is going to be developed on the other side of lower Main Street, opposite the warehouse-factory site.
Council Monday night approved a request by the Berryman Green Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to develop the small lot at the southwestern corner of Broad Street and Seymour Drive.
The DAR undertaking will, with the support or the town, commemorate the 1781 Crossing of the Dan Campaign.
The town, which owns the property, will perform the grading work and will donate an inventory of 300 brick pavers and 400 bricks left over from the former Downtown Revitalization Project.
Also Monday, Council:
*Closed an unopened but dedicated alley lying north of Chalmers Street adjacent to the Ralph Dyer property.
*Reviewed plans for Route 659 water and sewer line extensions in the newly incorporated Woodlawn Park community, and set May 4 as the date for a public hearing on the project.
*Heard a progress report from Tom Raab, a member of the Route 501 improvement committee and a candidate for Town Council, and noting that local businesses that use Route 501 a lot are being asked to get involved; he cited Dollar General and J. M. Huber as examples of those who might help.
*Heard a presentation by Robert Crone, who has been critical of the town for its annexation of his business at Sinai, a criticism that apparently fell on deaf ears.
"I accept the fact that I am now part of South Boston." Crone said. "I'd rather work with you than against you."
And then he asked the town to change its regular first Monday meeting date so that it and the Halifax County Board of Supervisors meetings will not conflict.
He even had the motion to be offered, and wanted Council member Bill Starke to offer it and Council member Josephine Marshall to second it.
Starke told Crone and the audience that he had been considering such a move, but that the Town Code prohibits this change without a public hearing--which, of course, has not been held.
Informally, however, Council received Crone and his suggestion warmly, and promised to look further at this issue.
*Raab pleaded for a schedule of street blacktopping that would not interrupt or stop business activity, as was the case this year, and was assured by Town Manager Ken McLawhon that every effort would be made to avoid this situation in the future.
*Mayor Abernathy appointed a committee composed of Council members Corky Rorrer, Mrs. Marshall and Buddy Wilborn to meet with a similar group from the Board of Supervisors to study consolidation of the now-separate town and county 911 services.
*Councilman Bill Starke issued a stinging rebuttal to charges made in print lately by a newspaper editor he did not call by name.
Asserting that he had been quoted correctly but only partially, he said it was wrong for the writer to term South Boston Council members :"unintelligent and closed-minded."
"We are not close-minded. We are not unintelligent," he asserted.
Referring to the January 1 boundary expansions, Starke defended the Council's actions and positions throughout the process leading to the expansion.
"We could have gone after a lot more (territory) and probably could have gotten it, but we didn't," Starke said.
"If we had been closed minded, we probably would be in court with the county right now," he said.
Starke, who has been transferred to Richmond by his employer, Belk, and will be leaving Council on June 30, left an ominous warning for town voters.
He cautioned South Boston voters to be aware of groups "out there" against South Boston. "You haven't heard much from them lately, but they are still out there and they are running hard."
By Bruce Wilkins
A former Intensive Care Unit nurse at the Halifax Regional Hospital was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for obtaining morphine by fraud from the hospital last August.
Kimberly Mae Elgin, 29, of Nathalie pleaded guilty to the felony charge on January 13 in the Halifax County Circuit Court. The incident occurred on August 11, 1997.
All of the five-year term was suspended by Circuit Court Judge Charles L. McCormick III on condition of her successful completion of two years of active, supervised probation, which includes random drug tests. She was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.
Elgin is awaiting trial on a second felony count of obtaining a Controlled II drug (Tussionex), as well as three similar charges in Charlotte County and the City of Farmville.
"We rated this as a high priority because here you have a case of a Registered Nurse who admitted that she was under the influence of four controlled drugs while treating patients at the hospital," commented Special Agent Todd Spota of the Virginia State Police, who spearheaded the investigation.
When Elgin took the stand Monday in her sentencing hearing, she admitted under oath that she was under the influence of prescription drugs while employed at the hospital.
Elgin was described as a "charge" nurse, meaning she had supervisory duties, according to testimony.
Officials of the Halifax Regional Hospital declined comment.
At the conclusion of the Virginia State Police investigation, agents went to her Charlotte County residence to make the arrest. They found a small quantity of morphine at her home, according to Special Agent Spota.
Elgin, who is a native of Maryland, is facing a second felony charge of obtaining a Controlled II prescription drug (Tussionex) which occurred on February 26, 1998 from the Wal-Mart pharmacy in South Boston.
She allegedly committed that offense while she was free on bond from her trial in January, according to court records.
Tussionex is a prescription level cough syrup that has an opium base, explained undercover agents of the Tri-County Drug Task Force.
"Because of the opium, it's a pretty hot item on the street for the illegal prescription drug market, which is referred in street slang as 'scripts,'" an undercover agent pointed out.
Two days after her second arrest, on February 28, Elgin entered a substance abuse program at the Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg. She was discharged from that program on March 19, according to court records.
During a bond hearing for the Tussionex charge, Judge McCormick set a $25,000 bond for Elgin.
She is currently being held in the Halifax County Jail pending her next trial in the Halifax County Circuit Court on the second count.
A self-described crack cocaine addict was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for his part in the August 18, 1997 breaking and entering of Bo's Hydraulics in Riverdale.
Larry Noell, 43, of Chapel Hill, N.C. was sentenced by Halifax County Circuit Court Judge Charles L. McCormick III to five years in prison for breaking and entering and five years for grand larceny, with both terms to run consecutively.
All but three years and one month of the 10-year term was suspended on condition of his good behavior for a period of 10 years following his release.
Noell and Johnnie Edward Alston Jr., 47, of Durham, N.C. broke into Bo's Hydraulics and stole an estimated $10,000 in commercial saws, welding gear, and other equipment.
While they were in the process of taking items from the store, at 10:53 p.m., two citizens called the Halifax County Crime Stoppers to report the incident. Police arrived a short while later and a chase began which ended at a road block on U.S. 501, several miles into Person County, N.C., police said.
Noell and Alston ran from their ditched 1982 Volkswagen Rabbitt, with Alston being captured about 15 feet into a thicket, according to the investigation.
Noell escaped but was caught at 8:30 a.m. the following morning walking along a rural road about 1.5 miles from where he left the car. The stolen items were recovered from the car.
During his sentencing hearing Monday morning, Noell stated that he found out about South Boston from a crack cocaine dealer in Raleigh, N.C. who he only knew as "Heavyset."
Noell had asked the dealer to front him some crack, but the man refused, Noell testified.
Instead, the dealer got Noell and Alston to drive to South Boston to commit the Bo's break-in, since he wanted some of the industrial equipment from the store, according to testimony.
Under cross examination from Halifax County Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker Jr., Noell conceded that he had committed the break-in despite being let out on parole in February, 1996 for a conspiracy to commit burglary conviction.
Noell also had been convicted of breaking and entering in Chapel Hill in 1973, according to testimony.
Noell had earlier told the court that he committed the Bo's theft because he was addicted to crack cocaine.
He also told Judge McCormick that the equipment he stole was not worth $10,000. "I don't have any idea how they could get that amount; it was worth like $3,000," Noell said.
However, Greenbacker asked Noell, "Aren't you a professional burglar?"
Noell responded, "I don't consider myself a professional because I always get caught."
During closing comments, defense attorney Charles Butler pointed to Noell's need to go into a drug abuse and rehabilitation center.
Greenbacker disagreed. "These are claims of addiction as window dressing to get people to feel sorry for them," he told Judge McCormick.
After the sentencing hearing, Noell was remanded to the Halifax County Jail, pending his transfer to the state prison system.
In other cases heard Monday:
· Kevin L. Faulkner, 33, of Halifax was sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison, with all but six years and nine months suspended, for two counts of malicious wounding.
He was convicted of cutting Clara Richardson and Corliss Faulkner during an argument at their home on May 13, 1997, according to testimony.
The woman died of a heart attack a week later while being treated in a hospital for her wounds, according to the investigation.
Since she had a previous heart condition, the threshold of probable cause could not be reached for a murder charges, Greenbacker explained.
Faulkner was also convicted of two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery and given 12 months in jail on each offense, to run concurrently with the prison term.
"He is unbelievably vicious," Greenbacker said. "This was a very brutal, nasty episode."
Defense attorney Buddy Ward described the situation as a fight with (man) and Clara Richardson was not supposed to be involved. "The whole thing got poorly out of hand," Ward said, adding that his client was remorseful.
Faulkner was serving a suspended three-year prison term for a grand larceny conviction when the incident occurred. In addition to the six years and nine months term handed down, Judge McCormick revoked the three-year suspended term and added that to Faulkner's latest sentence.
· Steven Michael Shelton, 34, of South Boston was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for forgery and uttering of checks from his former employer.
All but six months of the term was suspended on condition of his good behavior for a period of 10 years. He was allowed work release status while serving the term and will report to the Halifax County Jail on Friday.
· Cindy Elizabeth Whitlow, 24, of Alton was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison, with all time suspended, for felony convictions of distribution of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
The sentence was suspended on condition of her good behavior for a period of 12 years following her release, successful completion of two years of active probation, and that she will be gainfully employed.
Whitlow was also ordered by Judge McCormick not to associate with known drug users or dealers and to submit to random drug tests and searches of her vehicle and residence.
· Christopher Alan Loftis, 21, of Alton was sentenced to five years in prison, with all time suspended, for a felony conviction of manufacturing marijuana.
The sentence was suspended on condition of his good behavior for a period of five years and the successful completion of two years of active probation. He was also fined $250 and must complete 100 hours of community service.
Loftis was caught with 54 small marijuana plants in cups on June 27, 1997. He voluntarily led police to the rest of his plants after he was initially confronted, according to his attorney, Mark Thackston.
South Boston Police are seeking the public's help in identifying the suspect who allegedly stole a car from Halifax County Middle School March 31.
Lt. R.D. Loftis said that the suspect has been described by two witnesses as being either a biracial or Hispanic male standing about six feet tall and weighing approximately 170 pounds.
The suspect was described as having short curly hair and his age was estimated to be in his thirties.
Witnesses also stated that the suspect may possibly have a mustache and or a beard.
Anyone who has any information concerning the identity of the suspect or the theft is asked to contact the South Boston Police Department at 575-4271 or call the South Boston or Halifax County Crimestoppers number.
Loftis said yesterday that the car, a light blue 1987 model Oldsmobile Cutlass station wagon owned by William C. Moore of South Boston, the Director of Adult/Career Education and Vocational Education for the Halifax County Public Schools, was parked in the circle in front of Halifax County Middle School when it was taken at approximately 11:45 a.m. on March 31.
A witness at the school told police that the alleged suspect was wearing a gray jacket or shirt at the time.
Loftis said that the suspect went to Millstone Grocery sometime later and allegedly stole some gas. The police officer said that a witness there told authorities that the suspect pumped some gas into the vehicle and drove away without paying for it.
Later, the suspect is said to have driven to a dead end road off of Route 501 and stolen some pants and socks off of a clothesline and left the jacket he was wearing there.
The last time that the car was seen was on Route 501 near Volens headed north.
Loftis said that the description of the suspect given by the witness at Millstone Grocery and the witness at the middle school were very close with the only difference being whether or not the suspect had a mustache and or beard.
Two Roxboro, North Carolina fugitives were arrested Monday afternoon on Bold Springs Road after attempting to escape from officers of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department.
Edward Todd Martin, 34, and Nora Lee Bohannon, 36, were arrested at 4 p.m. after a foot chase that last about 1.5 miles, according to Halifax County Sheriff Jeff Oakes.
They were each facing charges from Roxboro of conspiracy to commit larceny (felony) and larceny (misdemeanor).
A "be on the lookout" message had been sent from Person County on an Oldsmobile station wagon and two white occupants, a male and a female, police said.
The vehicle was spotted by Investigator C.A. Bates at the Hillcrest Motel on U.S. 58 at approximately 3 p.m., Sheriff Oakes said.
When Bates attempted to approach the subjects, they fled on foot in an eastern direction, through two mobile home parks and then across Lawson's Creek, police said.
They were taken into custody on Bold Springs Road by Investigator Bates, Investigator M.A. Womack, Cpl. S.T. Moser, and Deputy J.L. Lucia.
Martin and Bohannon are currently being held without bond in the Halifax County Jail pending an extradition hearing.
Dollar General was granted permission Monday night by the Halifax County Board of Supervisors to begin construction of a 485,480-square-foot expansion of their regional distribution center.
On motion of supervisor Page Wilkerson, seconded by supervisor Robbie Smart, the board voted 7-0, with one abstention, to amend the firm's conditional use permit, so construction activity can began.
Board chairman Joe Satterfield abstained from voting on the basis that his wife owned common shares of stock in the Dollar General Corporation.
The motion did not sail through, however, since several adjacent landowners appeared to complain about excessive noise from the facility.
They also complained about an alleged failure of Dollar General to provide for adequate screening of vegetation between their facility and the residences located on the north side of the building.
Instead of the noise from tractor trailer rigs, the constant sounds of fans along the sides of the building has enraged several landowners.
"It (the noise) is constant, sustained, all night long and all day long," commented resident Charles Lowery. "You have a truck go by and it's gone...but those fans are on 24 hours a day."
Dollar General has made attempts to reduce the noise from fans, including installation of less powerful fans. They also outlined plans to remove 12 fans at the top of the office wall and to replace them with quieter fans during the relocation process, officials said.
Lowery expressed concern that such efforts would not significantly curtail the noise problem. "I counted 18 fans directly behind my property," he told the board. "I can't see where moving 12 is going to help.
"There is a poor design to start with," he continued. "The fans are on the north side where all the residents are."
Riverdale contractor John Cannon, who's firm did the mechanical and HVAC for the project, stated that the fans had to be on the north side since the south side contains the massive bay doors used by trucks backing in to be loaded and unloaded.
Since the doors are frequently open, the conditioned air "would be sucked right out of the building," he explained.
"This is a commercial facility and sometimes there are tradeoffs," Cannon reflected.
Directional covers for the fans would not be an option, since they would create funnels for rainwater that would cause penetration into the ventilation systems, James G. Crupper of Gray Construction Company pointed out.
Putting the fan units on top of the building would also not be an option, since that would preclude the maintenance of comfortable temperatures at the lower levels of the building's interior, where employees conduct their work, Crupper said.
Both Cannon and Crupper pointed out that the noise level from the fans were equal to the same decibel level caused by a person talking at a conversational tone.
Lowery, a teacher at the Halifax County Middle School disagreed with those contentions. "Would you want somebody talking constantly out of your (bedroom) window all night long?" Lowery asked. "I would like to be able to open my windows at night and sleep."
Board members approved the amendment of the conditional use permit, with stipulations that Dollar General and Gray Construction officials work closely with the individual neighbors to address their concerns.
More trees, including the possible use of fast-growing Leyland Cypress trees, would be part of those efforts. Fences would also be built by Dollar General, if the particular resident made such a request.
In two other public hearings held Monday night, the MC Construction Company was granted a conditional use permit to build a U.S. Postal Service office in Nathalie.
Another conditional use permit was granted to Willie and Helen Coates to add a mobile home lot in the Sunny Side Mobile Home Park off Wagstaff lane in the Scottsburg area.
In other matters:
· Jeff Henderson, a resident of the Crystal Hill community and a member of the Halifax County Safety Council, appeared before the board to ask for additional improvements for the truck-damaged roadway of Rt. 626.
He presented a petition which contained 418 signatures from area citizens asking for such improvements. "About 25 or so of the names are truck drivers who say they have the same problems (safety concerns) as well, Henderson told the board.
Resident Engineer Joe Barkley of the Virginia Department of Transportation was also on hand to outline details of about $150,000 in overlay and shoulder improvements that will be made within the next month to Rt. 626.
· Ms. Lottie Boyd of the local chapter of the American Association of Retired People appeared before the board to ask that the county's green boxes be lowered so that elderly people would have an easier time throwing in their garbage.
"They are too high," she said. "Either ramps should be built or they should be put lower on the ground."
Ramps have already been built at some of the green box locations in the county and additional ones will be built in the future, officials said.
Ms. Boyd further expressed hope that better access would continue since more elderly people are trying to be self-reliant and not dependent on others to do such chores for them.
"We are a generation that wants to take care of ourselves," she said.
Helen Faucette Jones of Oxford, NC, died Friday, April 3, 1998 in Duke Medical Center. She was 78 years of age.
A native of Granville County, NC she was the daughter of Eugene and Lela Hobgood Faucette, a member of Stovall Baptist Church, and retired from Granville County Extension Service.
Graveside services for Mrs. Jones were held Monday, April 6 from Meadowview Memorial Park by Rev. Vassar Jones, at 2 p.m.
Survivors include two daughters, Linda Ann Jones and Bonnie Jones Riggan, both of Oxford; one sister, Mrs. Faye F. Finch of Durham, NC; one brother, Gene Taylor Faucette of South Boston; and two granddaughters, Sandy L. Riggan of Oxford and Kelly R. Demos of Durham.
Shirley Redman Long of Roxboro, NC died Sunday, April 5, 1998 in Person County Memorial Hospital. She was 60 years of age at the time of her death.
Mrs. Long was a native of Person County, NC the daughter of German W. Redman and Hallie Carver Redman. She was a member of Triple Springs Baptist Church and an employee of Revlon in Oxford, NC.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. today, April 8 in Strickland Funeral Home Chapel by Revs. Herbert Brown, Mark Sterling, David Woodhouse and Victor Blackwell. Burial will be in Providence Baptist Church Cemetery.
Surviving Mrs. Long are her husband, Jack L. Long Sr. of the home; two
daughters, Vickie Chambers of Timberlake, NC and Mary Bohannon of Roxboro;
two sons, Keith Lynch and Jack L. Long Jr., both of Roxboro; her mother
of Roxboro; three sisters, Emily Sue Briggs and Marilyn Jeffers, both of
Roxboro and Marlene Loftis of Haw River, NC; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
James Robert Long, formerly of Alton, died at the age of 55 on Sunday, April 5, 1998 in Norfolk.
Mr. Long was born August 3, 1942 the son of Robert and Florine Long. He was a member of St. Mark Baptist Church.
Survivors include one sister, Barbara L. Brooks of Chase City; one brother-in-law, Robert N. Brooks of Chase City; other relatives and friends including Brother Hayes.
Funeral services for Mr. Long will be Thursday, April 9 at 2 p.m. at St. Mark Baptist Church in Alton with Rev. H.M. Pettiford officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
Moses Nathaniel Dixon Sr. of 3006 Clover Road, Randolph died Sunday, April 5, 1998 at Duke University Medical Center at the age of 72.
Mr. Dixon was born in Halifax County on August 7, 1925 the son of Henry Haley Dixon and Mary Street Dixon and was married to Mary Acree Dixon. He was a member of Traynham Grove Baptist Church, and was an Honorable Discharged United States Army Veteran.
Survivors include his wife; four daughters, Lillie Penick of Vernon Hill, Joann Carrington of Scottsburg, Margaret Edmondson of Richmond and Maria Powell of Halifax; four sons, James Dixon, Rev. Moses Dixon Jr. and John Dixon, all of Clover, and Alvin Dixon of Richmond; 15 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; three brothers, Hubert Dixon of Richmond, Linwood West of Baltimore, MD and Leon Dixon of Alexandria; two half brothers, McKinnley West of Baltimore and Johnny Traynham of Clover; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services for Mr. Dixon will be held Friday, April 10 at 1 p.m. at Traynham Grove Baptist with Rev. William A. Keen officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.