Steve Wayne Wilborn, 38, of South Boston pleaded guilty Thursday in the Halifax County Circuit Court to three felony counts of cocaine distribution.
In two of the incidents, Wilborn sold cocaine to undercover operatives on June 18 and July 5, 1996, according to testimony.
In the third incident, Wilborn was arrested after a traffic stop in South Boston on September 17, 1996. After a search of his vehicle, police found 2.39 grams of cocaine in his possession, according to testimony.
Halifax County Circuit Court Judge McCormick ordered a presentence report for Wilborn's sentencing hearing which has been scheduled for the July term of court.
He was placed in the Halifax County Jail pending the hearing.
In other cases heard Thursday:
· Roosevelt Martin, 36, of Riverdale was found guilty of a felony count of distribution of crack cocaine. He sold $200 in crack to an undercover informant on February 26, 1997, according to testimony.
Martin had pleaded not guilty and was represented by court-appointed attorney Buddy Ward. He was prosecuted by Special Prosecutor George Buzzy.
Agents of the Tri-County Regional Drug Task Force presented a video tape made in a local restaurant in which the transaction was outlined. The actual transfer of the crack occurred outside at the dumpster site and was not seen on the undercover tape, according to testimony.
The informant testified that the cocaine she bought from Martin was wrapped in aluminum foil and included a total of 10 individually-wrapped rocks of crack, each valued at approximately $20, according to testimony.
Judge McCormick found Martin guilty and ordered a presentence report for the July term of court. He was remanded to the Halifax County Jail pending the sentencing hearing.
· Ronnie Newbill, 35, of South Boston pleaded guilty to two felony counts of cocaine distribution and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and a misdemeanor count of illegal possession of prescription drugs.
The distribution charges occurred on October 10, 1996 and the misdemeanor count occurred on October 31, 1997, according to testimony.
Judge McCormick sentenced Newbill to five years in prison on each of the two felony counts for a total of 10 years in prison. He then suspended all but 17 months of the term.
The suspended sentence portion is on condition of his good behavior for a period of 10 years and the successful completion of two years of supervised probation.
Newbill was sentenced to 12 months in jail for the misdemeanor conviction, which will run concurrently with the other jail sentence. He was ordered to report to the Halifax County Jail today.
· Christopher David New, 33, of Cluster Springs pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of cocaine. The incident occurred on October 31, 1997.
Judge McCormick ordered a presentence report for the July term of court. New was released on bond pending the sentencing hearing.
· David Morrell Traynham, 32, of Scottsburg pleaded guilty to a felony count of distribution of cocaine.
Traynham sold cocaine to an undercover operative on July 14, 1996 and was arrested on September 25, 1997.
Judge McCormick ordered a presentence report for the July term of court. Traynham was allowed to remain free on bond pending the sentencing hearing.
· William Henry Walton, 43, of South Boston pleaded guilty to a felony count distribution of cocaine and a felony count of possession of cocaine.
He made a "hand-to-hand" sale of crack cocaine to an undercover operative on November 23, 1997.
Judge McCormick ordered a presentence report for the July term of court. Walton was allowed to remain free on bond pending the sentencing hearing.
· James A. Bailey, 38, of Virgilina pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
Police were called to Bailey's residence for a domestic disturbance on April 27, 1997. When they arrived and investigated the situation, they found trace amounts of cocaine and marijuana.
Judge McCormick ordered a presentence report for the July term of court. Bailey was allowed to remain free on bond pending the sentencing hearing.
A time of remembrance, tribute, and praise.
The South Boston Police Department National Peace Officers Memorial Day Service was all of that as local residents, community leaders, and police officials honored the law enforcement officers of this community and the nation.
With a small handful of present and former police officers and family members of retired and deceased law enforcement officers among the small crowd of about 100 persons looking on, South Boston police officer Marty Davis, Howard Gregory of the Town of Halifax Police Department, Deputy David Irby of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department, and Bedford County Deputy Joe Heisler did the honors of placing the memorial wreath.
The placing of the memorial wreath was the highlight of Wednesday night's hour long service at The Pavilion at South Boston's Constitution.
"I appreciate every officer that is serving now and the job they do," said South Boston Police Chief Jim Hall who noted the law enforcement officers are in the midst of a continuous war of good versus evil.
"We as officers should strive to keep our quality of life up in our community here."
Commonwealth Attorney John E. Greenbacker, Jr. pointed out that law enforcement officers have a very dangerous and stressful job, a job in which tasks such as serving a subpoena to someone to appear in court can turn deadly in an instant without notice.
"We have been blessed in this community -only one officer has been killed in the line of duty," Greenbacker said.
"He was killed trying to arrest a suspect in Scottsburg in the 1940's."
Greenbacker noted that we owe our safety to the law enforcement officers.
"When you go home and open your window, you may notice that you don't hear the small arms fire you did two years ago," Greenbacker pointed out.
"At least for now, we have our small, quiet rural community back thanks to the grace of God and a few good men in uniform."
Halifax County Sheriff D.J. Oakes paid tribute to the efforts of fallen and deceased lawmen and asked the small gathering to support the law enforcement officers in any way they can and to keep the officers and their families constantly in their prayers.
State Police Sgt. J.L. Hopkins paused to remember local state troopers B.W. Wright, Garland W. Fisher, Jr., and John Simmons who lost their lives serving their communities.
Both Simmons and Wright perished in highway traffic crashes, Wright while chasing a violator on Route 696 here in Halifax County. Fisher was
killed near Durham, N.C. after being abducted at gunpoint and forced to drive the suspects toward Atlanta, Ga. Fisher and Wright were both killed in 1976.
"We owe it to them to maintain the highest standards we can," Hopkins said.
"To do otherwise would bring dishonor to their names."
South Boston Mayor Glen Abernathy shared his remembrances of several deceased South Boston police officers including former chief B.H. Covington, W.E. Ballou, T.L. "Whitey" Roark, Joe Powell, and Grady Cole and added his thanks and appreciation to the local law enforcement officers for the jobs they do.
Joe Satterfield, the chairman of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors, added his words of thanks and appreciation, telling the law enforcement officers "I commend, honor, and thank you. May God give you the strength and courage to protect us."
Del. W.W. "Ted" Bennett, whose son, Chris Bennett, is a state trooper in Goochland County, spoke of the dangers that troopers and law enforcement officers face each day.
Bennett pointed out that it is our country's and community's law enforcement officers that are the keepers of our safety and security.
"Thank God for you and God Bless you," Bennett told officers in the gathering."
A former Registered Nurse who pleaded guilty last month to theft of morphine from the Halifax Regional Hospital has entered a second guilty plea in an unrelated prescription drug offense.
Kimberly Mae Elgin, 29, of Nathalie entered a guilty plea to a felony count of obtaining prescription drugs by fraud. She pleaded guilty during a brief hearing held Thursday in the Halifax County Circuit Court.
Elgin obtained Tussionex from the Wal-Mart pharmacy on February 26, 1998 by fraud and was arrested on March 20 by special agents of the Virginia State Police, according to testimony.
She is also facing similar charges in Charlotte County.
Halifax County Circuit Court Judge Charles L. McCormick III accepted her latest guilty plea and ordered a presentence report for her sentencing hearing which has been scheduled for the July term of court.
Elgin was allowed to remain free on bond pending the hearing.
The proposed $694,844 Town of Halifax 1998-99 budget - reflecting a 2.52 percent decrease over last year's budget of $712,776.99- sailed through public hearing Tuesday night with no public input and no council objections.
The 1998-99 budget is expected to be approved by council and appropriated during its next regular meeting set for Tuesday, June 2, at the town administration building.
The new budget reflects a drop of five cents in the real estate tax rate - the new rate is set at 22 cents per $100, and no increase in the town's personal property tax rate of 80 cents per $100. Water/sewer rates also remain the same.
Town of Halifax Manager Robert Greene yesterday attributed "general overall tightening of expenses" and, in some cases, "water/sewer projects being paid out of the 97-98 budget" for this year's reduced budget.
The Halifax tax rate reduction is attributed to the increased value of real estate in the town from the recent reassessment.
The town's taxable property increased from more than $23.56 million to just over $30.2 million, according to town officials. However, town administrator Robert Greene noted last month there was $30 million of non-taxable property in the town belonging to county government and the town's churches.
In other business Tuesday night, town council unanimously approved - with councilman Harold Younger Jr. absent - a resolution honoring Mrs. Ruth Smith for her many years service as the Town of Halifax chairperson for the Halifax County Improvement Council.
The resolution noted Smith's "endless hours" given coordinating special cleanups in the town which have become a regular event in the spring and fall for town residents.
"During these special cleanups Mrs. Smith has always included Boy Scout Troop 332 to help her clean up a specific area in town, for which Town Council is most grateful to Troop 332," stated the resolution.
"Therefore, be it resolved: The Honorable Mayor and Town Council for the Town of Halifax sincerely thank Mrs. Smith for the fine job she has done for so many years and all hope that she will continue to work toward making our Town a more attractive place for everyone to enjoy."
The resolution is to be framed and presented to Mrs. Smith by Mayor Dennis Osborne and councilmen in the near future.
Gov. James Gilmore III will formally dedicate The Software Factory in South Boston next week.
Other guests will include Secretary of Commerce and Trade Barry E. DuVal, who will preside as master of ceremonies, state Sen. Louise Lucas, Sen. Charles Hawkins, Del. W.W. "Ted" Bennett, Del Frank Ruff and Robert C. Brower, chairman of The Software Factory board of directors.
The grand opening is scheduled Wednesday afternoon at the company's 504 Wilborn Avenue address in South Boston.
Jerry Hill and Beverly Lucas are co-founders of The Software Factory. The company, a high tech firm, which specializes in Year 2000 remediation and software development, offers economical computer programming and programmers in close proximity of its customers.
With employees trained in South Boston, the new company is offering local workers an entree into the technology field, a field of opportunity the company plans to expand.
The Software Factory is considered a linchpin and avenue to the region's technology future by many area industrial and education developers.
"The Software Factory is the bridge over which some technology companies can travel to the Southern Piedmont of Virginia," said William Confroy, executive director of the Industrial Development Authority," yesterday.
"Not only does it offer people the training to be able to pursue a technology vocation, but it also offers the opportunity of a job," said Confroy.
"Our community needs to do everything they can to make this venture a success, and they can use help from the town and from local businesses to ensure that they will stay in South Boston," added the IDA director.
The Software Factory was founded a year ago. Part of solving the country's shortage of programmers to remediate the Year 2000 problem is to train and retrain people, explained a company spokesman.
Two classes have graduated from the company's "technology boot camp" - an intensive, unpaid, four-week course in programming. Graduates go to work for The Software Factory as Y2k programmers to prepare for work after the year 2000.
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Finance Committee today voted to significantly toughen Congress' leading tobacco bill, raising the price of cigarettes by $1.50-a-pack over three years.
The committee voted 10-9 to go beyond the price increase of $1.10 a pack over five years proposed in the bill sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain of Arizona.
The change would achieve the 60 percent reduction in youth smoking targeted in the bill, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. Opponents said the increase would be paid overwhelmingly by working-class Americans who smoke.
Republicans have cited studies showing that 3 percent of all cigarettes sold are sold to children.
''The whole purpose is stop kids from smoking, not to punish adults for using a legal product or raising revenue for other purposes,'' said Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
The Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. William Roth Jr. of Delaware, may also consider, as part of the changes, setting aside industry money to help the self-employed pay for health insurance.
The meeting comes after Finance Committee members complained that they had not been allowed to put their mark on the McCain bill.
'We feel very strongly about this,'' the committee's chairman and senior Democrat, Roth and Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
Some Republicans, including McCain and Lott, believed that the finance panel's demand was an attempt to delay the bill and possibly kill it.
''It is not, and has never been, my intention to slow this bill down,'' Roth countered in a statement. He did say he was interested in preserving the panel's claim to bills that raise and spend taxpayer money.
McCain's bill, would charge the industry at least $516 billion over 25 years, give the Food and Drug Administration vast power to regulate tobacco and raise the price of cigarettes.
Other government analyses say estimate the cost to the tobacco companies would be closer to $800 billion over 25 years.
Though it broadly outlines how the money should be spent, the bill leaves many spending priorities to be hashed out during Senate debate.
Roth's committee is expected to produce an amendment directing that spending.
Ms. Valerie Louise Bowers of 1174 Cherry Hill Church Rd., South Boston died Tuesday, May 12, 1998 at Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC at the age of 18.
Ms. Bowers was born in Halifax County on March 11, 1980, the daughter of Mr. Gerry (Gary) Wayne Bowers and Mrs. Joan Pointer Bowers. She was a senior at the Halifax County High School and a member of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.
Her survivors include her daughter: Shauna Bowers of South Boston; her parents; two sisters: Ms. Marjorie and Chantay Bowers of South Boston; her maternal grandparents: Wavely and Louise Pointer of Alton; her maternal great-grandmother: Mrs. Lola McMillion of Mt. Hope, WV; her paternal step-great-grandmothers: Mrs. Mamie Bowers of Richmond and Mrs. Clara McLoud of Boydton and her devoted friend: DeShawn Mosley of South Boston.
Funeral services will be held Sunday, May 17 at 3 p.m. at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church with the Rev. William Dixon officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the chapel of Jeffress Funeral Home on Saturday, May 16 from 7-8:30 p.m.
Henry A. Hamilton of Memphis, TN died Tuesday, May 12, 1998 at the age of 70.
Mr. Hamilton was born in South Boston on July 16, 1927, the son of William C. and Mary Susie Pounds Hamilton. He was a member of the New Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church and was married to Marsha Hamilton.
His survivors include his wife; a daughter: Kimberly and two sons: Henry Jr. and Keith of Memphis; four sisters: Vivian Clark and Geneva Coles of South Boston, Emily Driggins of Baldwin, NY and Anne Nelson of Memphis; three brothers: Robert of Baltimore, MD, Bernard of Atlantic City, NJ and Levi of South Boston.
Funeral services will be held Monday, May 18 at 12 noon with services at the New Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Memphis.
Joseph Guill of Danville died Saturday morning, May 9, 1998 at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, NC at the age of 84.
Mr. Guill was born in Pittsylvania Co. on June 23, 1913, the son of James Monroe Guill and Nannie Womack Guill. He was married to the late Evelyn Wade Simmons Guill and was a lifelong member of the Baptist Tabernacle.
His survivors include three daughters; Mayse Sheffield of Greenville, NC, Etta Brown of Danville and Sue King of South Boston; two brothers: James D. (Jim) Guill of Blairs and Roger S. Guill of Danville; two sisters: Nannie Guill Kent and Bessie Guill Bliss of Danville, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He was predeceased by four brothers: Willie, John, Nathan and Harvey Guill and a sister: Mattie Womack.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16 at Swicegood Funeral Home Chapel by the Revs. Lamarr Mooneyham and Bill Soyars. Interment will follow at Danville Memorial Gardens.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home Friday from 7-8:30 p.m. and at other times at the residence of his daughter, Etta Brown, at 218 Allison Drive.
Mr. Tommie Lee Brooks died Saturday, May 9, 1998 at Berry Hill Nursing Home at the age of 75.
Mr. Brooks was born in September, 1922 to Robert and Pearl Wilkerson Brooks. He was married to Rosa Lee Lester Brooks and was a member of the St. Matthew Baptist Church, Oxford, NC.
His survivors include his wife of Virgilina; a sister: Zula Mae Thomas; three brothers: Robert Jr., Clarence and Theodore Brooks of Oxford; two brothers-in-law: Sanford Lester Jr. and Daniel Thomas; four sisters-in-law: Dorothy Brooks, Mary Brooks, Elizabeth Brooks and Virginia Lester and a devoted friend: Mary Helen Gravitt.
Funeral services were held Thursday, May 14 at St. Matthew Baptist Church with the Rev. Johnson officiating. Burial took place in the church cemetery.
Mrs. Rosa Lee Walker of Halifax passed away Sunday, May 10, 1998 at Southside Community Hospital in Farmville at the age of 86.
Mrs. Walker was born in Halifax County on January 12, 1912.
Her survivors include two daughters: Millie Casper of Jetersville and Helen Chambers of Halifax; 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great-grandchildren; three sisters: Elizabeth Rogers of Bridgeport, CT, Bessie White and Hazel Fowlkes of Crewe; a brother: Clifton White of Crewe.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 16 at 1 p.m. at Banister Hill Baptist Church, Halifax with the Rev. William Carr officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery. The remains will lie in state one hour prior to the service.
Family will receive friends at the residence of Helen Chambers, 121 Jackson St., Halifax.
Carrie T. Roberts of East Locke Lane, Richmond, formerly of Winns Creek community, died Thursday, May 14, 1998 in Richmond.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete as of press time and will be announced later by Powell Funeral Home.
William Owen Montgomery of Brookneal died Wednesday, May 13 at his home at the age of 71.
Mr. Montgomery was born in Pittsylvania County on March 29, 1927, the son of Jesse Hamilton Montgomery and Ruth Eanes Montgomery. He was a Army Veteran of WW II and a member of Buffalo Baptist Church. He was married to Irene Hancock Montgomery.
His survivors include his wife; a son and daughter-in-law: Wayne and Gayle Montgomery of Monroe, NC; two grandchildren: Jennifer and Johanna Montgomery and a sister: Lucy Womack of Clarksville.
A funeral service will be conducted at 2 p.m. today, May 15 at Henderson Funeral Home Chapel by the Rev. Walter Mason with burial in the Wickliffe Cemetery.
Mr. Robbie "Bob" Hubbard Glass of 464 Muirs Chapel Road, Greensboro, NC died May 13, 1998 at Moses Cone Hospital at the age of 73.
Mr. Glass was a native of Halifax County and served in the US Marine Corps during WWII. He was a member of the Bryan Park Men's Senior Golf League and was of the Baptist faith.
His survivors include his wife: Lois Tatum Glass; his sisters: Janey Boaze, Louise Andrews and Betty Kratz and brother: Carroll D. Glass, all of Danville; mother-in-law: Mary Tatum Weatherford of Greensboro; brother-in-law: Bobby L. Tatum of Wirtz and a God-daughter: Debra Gillette of Jamestown, NC.
A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16 at Lakeview Memorial Park with the Rev. Al Stanley officiating.