By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - GOP Senate leaders say Congress should not pass a tobacco bill unless it also addresses a far bigger problem among the nation's kids: illicit drug use.
Frustrated by the pressing tobacco debate and by what they consider the White House's ''deafening silence'' on illegal drug use, senior Senate Republicans unveiled a proposal Wednesday that they will try to attach to whatever tobacco bill comes to the floor.
''Tobacco is a health problem among teen-agers, and it must be addressed,'' said Senate GOP Conference Secretary Paul Cover-dell, co-sponsoring the amendment proposal with Policy Committee Chairman Larry Craig. ''But to do so while you remain silent on what drug use is doing to teen-agers is mind-boggling.''
The senators, joined by Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles, said they would spend $3 billion of the tobacco industry's money on anti-drug education programs and for stepped-up enforcement of laws that ban narcotics smuggling and laundering of drug money.
They cited published research showing that between 1991 and 1997, the percentage of 10th graders who regularly used marijuana increased 135 percent. In the same time period, the percentage of 10th graders who regularly smoked cigarettes increased 40 percent, the senators said.
Theirs was one of two tobacco-related pieces of legislation bills revealed Wednesday in a Congress roiled with conflicting proposals.
A group of House Democrats and moderate Republicans sought to draw in more GOP support with their bill to charge the tobacco industry approximately $500 billion over 25 years and use more than half that amount to pay down the nation's $5.5 trillion federal debt.
''I've never heard of cutting the national debt to be a liberal challenge,'' said Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah.
The sponsors hope their bill will gather momentum, but GOP leaders have not embraced it so far. President Clinton offered qualified support for it Wednesday.
A major drawback for both parties is the lack of money in the bill for tobacco farmers, whose livelihoods would be threatened if demand for their crops decreases.
''I look forward to working with them to insure that their legislation adequately protects tobacco farmers,'' Clinton said.
The sponsors also released supportive statements from House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and public health advocates C. Everett Koop, one-time surgeon general, and David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
The bill would increase cigarette taxes by $1.50 over three years, grant the industry no lawsuit protection and fine tobacco companies of the levels of teen-age smoking did not decline by 80 percent over 10 years. The money not used for the federal debt would go to the states and for programs to stop young people from smoking.
The measure is among at least five proposals congressional leaders are considering that aim to reduce teen-age smoking. Like the $368 billion settlement the industry and states struck in June, several bills would force companies to pay hefty fees and sharply curtail advertising. In exchange, the tobacco industry wants protection from certain kinds of lawsuits.
Only one bill, sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, has cleared a congressional committee. It would charge the industry $516 billion over 25 years and cap awards the industry would be forced to pay plaintiffs at $6.5 billion annually. It would raise federal cigarette taxes by $1.10 a pack by 2003.
Unlike the House's bipartisan bill, McCain's does not say how the government should spend the industry's money.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - As major cigarette makers battle a $516 billion anti-smoking measure in Congress, the tobacco industry finds itself a house divided.
Some tobacco farmers say they have grown more wary of the com-panies they had been quick to support.
The legislation the cigarette companies oppose includes a key provision that farmers like - $28.5 billion in aid for tobacco growers and rural communities that would be hurt if fewer and fewer Americans smoke.
''I'm just not so sure we're ready to carry their water - all the water they've got to carry,'' said Tim Cansler, national affairs director for the Kentucky Farm Bureau.
The schism traces to last summer, when farmers learned that the tobacco companies had negotiated a $368.5 billion legal settlement with state lawyers and public health groups, without involving the growers.
There's some bitterness and some resentment,'' said Rod Kuegel, a Daviess County, Ky., tobacco farmer and president of the Lexington-based Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association.
Now the industry is courting the farmers, who in the past have put a sympathetic public face on issues such as increasing cigarette taxes or regulating nicotine.
''I appreciate where they are,'' J. Phil Carlton, the industry's top lobbyist, said in a recent interview. ''They've been courted long and hard (by health groups and the White House), and in a sense, you're asking a lot of them to say, 'Work with us now to help beat this bill, and we'll help you later.'''
In North Carolina recently, top industry executives met for four hours behind closed doors with about 100 growers and farm leaders from across the South.
The meeting included Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. chairman Nick Brookes, Philip Morris USA chief executive Michael Szymanczyk, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. chief executive Andrew Schindler and Lorillard chairman Alexander Spears.
Carlton said the point of the meeting, where he served as moderator, was to explain to growers how the tobacco bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would ruin the industry and to ask for help in defeating it.
By various accounts, the farm groups in the audience were polite, listened attentively and asked questions. The growers agreed with the industry executives on some points. But the two sides didn't walk out in lock step.
''You go to this meeting, and all of a sudden people stand up and say, 'Oh, you're our best friends - drop everything you're doing and come help us,''' said Arnold Hamm, vice president of the Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp. in Raleigh, N.C.
Hamm said farm groups oppose large parts of the tobacco legislation, which is headed for the Senate floor May 18. But many growers also want some comprehensive legislation that would offer them greater certainty about their future. They're still deciding whether the bill could somehow be improved in their view.
''To say we're going to fall in line and fight whatever we're told to fight - particularly if there's something in there that benefits farmers - well, I guess we're going to listen to our conscience,'' Hamm said.
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The way the defense team saw it, the judge told jurors hearing Minnesota's tobacco lawsuit that cigarette makers deserve to be punished.
Jurors can assume the worst from tobacco companies' failure to produce some industry documents, Ramsey County Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick instructed jurors as both sides prepared for closing arguments.
Those statements were to begin today.
The state and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota filed the lawsuit in 1994 to recover the $1.77 billion they say they have spent treating smoking-related diseases. They are also seeking punitive damages.
Outside the courtroom, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said negotiations were continuing on a $5 billion-plus settlement. But it was Fitzpatrick's jury instructions that drew attention Wednesday.
If jurors believe the companies destroyed documents, they can assume the contents would have been damaging to the companies, the judge said. And the fact that some consumers and the plaintiffs may have known of smoking's dangers can't be used as a defense.
Robert Weber, who represents R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said the instructions were ''riddled with error from beginning to end'' and would ensure a successful appeal should the companies lose.
Fitzpatrick said the parties ''knew or should have known the importance of conserving evidence.''
The judge also directed the jury to find that the industry voluntarily undertook a duty to safeguard public health with a 1954 pledge to investigate smoking and health. The jury must determine whether the tobacco companies violated that duty.
Fitzpatrick also appeared to lower the burden on proof on what was considered the weakest part of the state's claim: the $1.77 billion estimate of health costs.
The judge said that if tobacco companies' wrongful conduct led to injury, the plaintiffs aren't required to separate injuries directly related to smoking from other injuries. And he said the difficulty of determining damages is no reason to deny them.
Gregory Joseph, a New York attorney not connected with the case, said the tobacco defendants had reason to be unhappy.
''Common wisdom is that these sorts of instructions are death,'' said Joseph, chairman of the American Bar Association's litigation section.
Michael Ciresi, who heads the state's trial team, dismissed criticism of the instructions. ''They're fully supported by the law,'' Ciresi said.
Evidence introduced during the trial has suggested tobacco companies destroyed reports and letters because they were afraid they could be used in lawsuits.
But evidence introduced this week includes documents that could illustrate what the plaintiffs contend: how tobacco companies worked with outside lawyers to cut off damaging research.
The documents suggest that the nation's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris Cos., stopped the publication of research in 1983 suggesting that nicotine was addictive. They recount that Philip Morris tried to move a nicotine laboratory to Europe and, failing that, closed it in 1984.
The push to move the lab came two months after outside lawyers from the tobacco law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Mo., warned that the findings could damage the industry in trials, The New York Times reported today.
''This kind of research is a major tool of our adversaries on the addiction issue,'' one memo said. ''The irony is that industry-sponsored research is honoring that tool.''
The industry still maintains that nicotine is not addictive.
The man Commonwealth Attorney John E. Greenbacker, Jr. tagged as having committed the largest embezzlement crime dollarwise he has prosecuted here, will serve 60 days in jail for the crime.
Stephen Curtis Satterfield, 43, of South Boston, who entered an Alford Plea last fall to six counts of embezzling more than $109,000 from the Hupps Mill Medical Associates firm where he was formerly employed as the office manager, will, however, be allowed to serve his sentence on weekends starting this weekend.
Circuit Court Judge William Wellons sentenced Satterfield, who is now employed with a securities firm in North Carolina, to five years in the state prison on each count, making a total of 30 years. However, he suspended the sentence upon the condition that Satterfield serve 60 days in jail, make restitution totaling $109,559.76, pay court costs, be placed on supervised probation for three years, and be of uniform good behavior for 30 years.
State sentencing guidelines recommended no jail time for Satterfield. But the prosecutor insisted in his closing arguments that it is unfair for a person who steals that large of an amount of money to get away without serving time.
"To say a man can take this amount of money and not have to be incarcerated is, frankly, ludicrous, unfair, and unjust," Greenbacker said.
The prosecutor added in his closing to the judge that Satterfield had shown no remorse for the crimes that were committed from 1991 until the time of the termination of his employment with the firm in 1996.
"He has made no attempt to make the people he cheated whole," added Greenbacker.
Moments prior to being sentenced, Satterfield expressed the remorse that the prosecutor had said that had not been previously evident.
"I've made many mistakes and many errors in judgment," Satterfield told the judge.
"Given the chance again, I would have taken a different course."
Satterfield said that he did not mean to hurt his former employer and apologized for what he had done.
"I ask the Court to give me a chance to try to make as right as I can the mistakes I've made and continue to provide for my family."
Testimony at Satterfield's trial last October and at Wednesday's near four hour long sentencing hearing indicated that Satterfield siphoned money from the South Boston based medical practice primarily by paying himself $94,000 in excess of his $25,450 a year base salary during the course of the six year period.
State Police Special Agent Carl Bond, a specialist in white collar crime, testified Wednesday that Satterfield wrote himself extra paychecks. He pointed to one month in 1995 when Satterfield wrote himself eight paychecks that month. The state police accountant also testified that there were months when Satterfield would pay himself an additional $4,000 to $5,000 a month.
According to Bond, there were also incidents in which Satterfield had forged checks.
Bond, citing a lack of internal control and scrutiny on the part of the principal partners in the corporation, said that Satterfield "was able to write checks to himself for whatever he wanted."
Satterfield's defense counsel, W.W. "Ted" Bennett of Halifax, stated that there was no criminal intent on Satterfield's part because the principals in the Hupps Mill Medical Associates firm could not produce the paperwork to show what Satterfield's base salary was and what Satterfield was authorized to receive.
Bond, though, said that he carefully examined the records of earlier years that contained the base salary figure that was being quoted and that the doctors told him that Satterfield's base salary had not changed.
Yet, in his closing arguments, Bennett challenged the fact that his client had taken that large a sum of money.
He said that the charges on the indictments lodged against Satterfield allege that he stole in excess of $200 during the alleged time periods in 1991-1996.
"There is no question on that issue," Bennett noted.
"He pled guilty to taking over $200, not $109,000."
Bennett also pointed out that this was not the usual embezzlement case where money was being taken and there not being any way to follow the financial records.
"Nothing was hidden," stated Bennett.
While the six year crime carried a hefty sting, a prior incident in which Satterfield was alleged to have dipped into the firm's petty cash to purchase personal items was displayed to show previous wrongdoing on Satterfield's part.
Testimony was heard from Dr. Browne explaining that some time prior to start of the crimes for which Satterfield was convicted, he had caught Satterfield using the firm's petty cash money to purchase personal items.
The doctor stated that when Satterfield was called in to discuss the matter he appeared to be contrite and remorseful. There were subsequent discussions among the partners in the firm to fire Satterfield but that the other partners wanted to give Satterfield a second chance.
"I'm sorry I gave him a second chance," Browne said.
Browne and Bandy, who was the treasurer for the corporation, stated that while Satterfield was siphoning funds to his own use, the financial situation of the firm became of serious concern because it appeared that the firm was losing money.
After the partners called in an accountant to perform a thorough audit, it was discovered that Satterfield had failed to pay several of the firm's creditors, had failed to pay taxes that were owed to the IRS, and had forged several checks.
When the review was completed and Satterfield's crimes were uncovered, Dr. Browne and Dr. Bandy, the two remaining principal partners, found themselves owing $85,000 in unpaid bills to their creditors.
Bandy noted that he and Browne both had to pull money from their and their families' personal accounts and had to cut employees back to working four day work weeks in order to bail the firm out of that debt.
"And, I got busy calling creditors and apologizing to them," Bandy pointed out."
Bandy said that he was extremely hurt by the revelation of what had happened and what Satterfield had done.
"I was astounded," Bandy remarked.
"I trusted Steve. I didn't believe this could have happened. I like Steve very much. I thought he was a nice young man. I gave him too much rope and it was my fault."
Browne pointed out that through the uncertain times when he saw his firm losing ground financially he agonized over the situation because "we were slowly sinking," Browne said.
"It wasn't clear the reason. I thought I was going to go bankrupt. I didn't know what happened."
Browne stated that when the audit was conducted that uncovered the situation,"we found past due notices and fines from the IRS. "He didn't have enough money in the corporate account to pay the corporation taxes."
Browne stated Wednesday that he is angry and that he felt betrayed by Satterfield.
"When I took care of his father and mother as a doctor I had the greatest respect for those people," Browne said.
He added that he also felt badly for Bandy because it was Bandy who was Satterfield's most staunch supporter and defender in the earlier episode with the petty cash money.
Browne also admitted that he did not pay as much attention to the business side of the corporation as he should have.
"Maybe I didn't pay as much attention to business as I should have," he remarked, "but, you have to depend upon someone."
Satterfield's sister and Dean Miller, Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church in South Boston where Satterfield and his family are active members, testified as character witnesses on Satterfield's behalf.
Miller stated that "I do not see Steve as the type of person who would do the things charged against him. The character I have seen in him, his children, and his family go against what the charges report. I still respect him for who he is."
Satterfield's sister says she knows her brother as a "kind, gentle, caring and honest person." She pointed out that "we all make mistakes" and added that "Steve is a good person."
For the third year in a row Halifax County's students will be starting school prior to Labor Day.
That's because the county school system has received a waiver from the State Department of Education that will allow it to get the school year off to an early start.
County school superintendent Dennis Witt said yesterday that a decision has not been made concerning the opening date for the 1998-99 school year.
That decision, he said, will be made by the county school board.
The county school board is expected to mull over the first draft of a proposed school calendar Monday night when it holds its May meeting at 7 p.m. in the public meeting room of the Mary M. Bethune Office Complex in Halifax.
Witt said, though, that "my guess is we'll start around the last week of August."
The current school year started on August 25.
The news from the State Department of Education was good news for school system officials who had been cautiously hopeful of not having to wait until Tuesday, September 8, the day after Labor Day, to start school.
That, school system officials had previously pointed out, would give the county its latest starting date in several years. And, having to wait that long to start school would push the school closing date back toward the middle of June.
Witt said that the school literally squeaked by under the tightened state mandated guidelines.
"We took an average of (the number of school days missed) the last ten years," he said.
"We barely made it on the average of eight days under the guidelines."
In addition to considering the first draft of a proposed school calendar, school trustees will consider a request from school system officials to raise the price of adult and regular student lunches and milk for the 1998-99 school year.
Witt did not specify what the proposed increases were but called them "minimal."
"It's a recommendation that will bring us in line with most area school divisions."
The increase, if adopted, will not affect the prices of reduced price lunches. Those prices are established by the state and are determined according to family income levels.
Also, the school board is expected to consider proposed revisions to the school system's Code of Student Conduct, hear from school system officials about the Summer School program, and the school system's six year plan.
A number of other routine matters and reports also do the school trustees' agenda for Monday night.
A grant totaling almost $12,000 is offering the visually handicapped new recorded books and tapes in the Halifax County library system and in Mecklenburg County.
The grant came through the Department of Rehabilitative Services.
"We are indebted to Mrs. Julia Moss, chairman of the Southside Disability Services Board, for making us aware of this grant," said Sarah Hudson, director of the Halifax County/South Boston Regional Library, in announcing the grant yesterday.
"Having had family members who are visually handicapped, I am acutely aware of the needs of this segment of the population," added Hudson.
The library director said the unique act of cooperation among the Southside DSB, the Southside Regional Library and the Halifax County/South Boston Regional Library provided better quality library service for all the visually handicapped patrons.
The grant, totaling $11,929, was for audio or recorded books as well as equipment such as anti-glare filters and magnifying screens to make the computers more accessible to those with visual problems. Each library had to have $500 in matching funds.
The two library directors wrote the grant with Hudson working on the narrative while Tom Emory, director of the Southside Regional Library, worked with statistical and fiscal data and finishing the grant. Polly Johnson, county administrator of Mecklenburg County, served as fiscal agent. Southside Regional Library handled the ordering of the equipment and material, however, each individual library was responsible for ordering for their branches according to patrons' needs.
"It was really a joint or cooperative venture between all the parties involved," said Hudson.
"We really appreciate the Southside Disability Services Board making this opportunity available to us. It really has helped us better meet the needs of the public," said Emory.
The recorded books and tapes are now in place at all branches of both systems.
Motorists and pedestrians finding it difficult now to negotiate Halifax County's busiest stretch of highway - US 501 north from South Boston through Centerville - are in for plenty of change.
Coupled with the start-up of Broad Street extension in the Town of South Boston will be the addition of two-way reversible turn lanes in the now grassy median and right turn lanes on both sides of US 501 from its intersection with Routes 129 (Old Halifax Road) and Route 654 (Sinai Road).
When complete, that section of US 501 will provide three lanes each for north and south bound traffic with a seventh center lane for turning.
The $1.87 million project even includes sidewalks for pedestrians who prefer to walk to the many restaurants, shops, banks and other market places that continue to grace Centerville's golden mile.
The work is aimed at improving safety and speed ing the flow of the average 22,000 vehicles-per-day,
The Centerville project, scheduled for completion by December, has been awarded to APAC Virginia. A pre-construction conference is set for Monday and actual work is expected to begin immediately.
VDOT is requiring that all four lanes remain open during the construction period and in order to meet the completion deadline, some night work is expected.
The existing paved lanes will be built up with asphalt to accept the designed changes.
The project in Centerville required no additional right-of-way but VDOT did obtain an easement to construct a drainage retention pond behind 220 Seafood restaurant to handle the additional runoff.
Mary Payne Murray, 93, of Chambersburg, PA died Wednesday, May 6, 1998 in Menno Haven Nursing Home in Chambersburg.
Mrs. Murray was born July 13, 1904 in Bunker Hill, WV the daughter of John David Payne and Fannie Belle Butler Payne and was married to Cedric Murray. She was a graduate of Bunker Hill High School and received her teaching certificate from Shepherd College State Normal School in 1922, which later became Shepherd College.
She taught school in West Virginia and Virginia and was a teacher at the School for the Deaf in Frederick, MD. She was owner/operator of Collie Cleaners in South Boston, and was a member of the Eastern Star , the D.A.R. and Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church.
Survivors of Mrs. Murray include two sisters, Virginia McDonald of Chambersburg, and Annabelle Smith of South Boston. She was preceded in death by her husband, and two brothers, Nathan Payne and Harry Payne.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 9 at 2:30 p.m. at Brown Funeral Home in Martinsburg, WV, with Rev. John E. Harris officiating. Burial will be in Paynes Chapel Cemetery in Ridgeway, WV.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to services on Saturday.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider Menno Haven, Inc., 2075 Scotland Ave., Chambersburg, PA 17201, Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church, Route 2, Box 325, Bunker Hill WV 25413 or Paynes Chapel Church, Ridgeway, WV 25440.
Lucy Belle New Dyer of 111 Carrington Street, South Boston died Wednesday, May 6, 1998 at Halifax Regional Hospital. She was 81 years of age at the time of her death.
Mrs. Dyer was born May 28, 1916 in Halifax County the daughter of Adrian Floyd New and Lizzie Baker Landrum.
Funeral services will be held at Brooks Funeral Home Chapel today, May 8 at 11 a.m. with Rev. Robert I. Heim officiating. Burial will take place in Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Survivors of Mrs. Dyer include two daughters, Rochelle Rudder of South Boston and JoAnn Hudson of Oriental, NC; three sons, Grant Dyer and Ralph Dyer, both of South Boston and Billy Dyer of Ringgold; one sister, Maggie Jones of Roxboro, NC; 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider your favorite charity.
Sarah Lewis Alderson of the Oak Level community died Tuesday, May 5, 1998 at Berry Hill Nursing Home at the age of 95.
Mrs. Alderson was born in Halifax County on October 22, 1902 the daughter of Jasper C. Lewis and Carolyn Henderson Lewis and was married to Walter Bennett Alderson. She was a member of Ingram United Church of Christ.
Survivors include one daughter, Neva Alderson Ferrell of Halifax; three grandchildren, James W. Rutherford of Vernon Hill, Patricia R. Hellyer of Rockville, MD and Ray W. Rutherford of South Boston; five great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Mrs. Alderson will be held today, May 8 at 2 p.m.
at Powell Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. John Wilder conducting the service.
Burial will take place in Mount Vernon Cemetery.
Willie Pearl White Ragsdale of 3011 L.P. Bailey Memorial Highway, Halifax died Tuesday, May 5, 1998 at Northwood Manor Nursing Home in Durham, NC at the age of 69.
Mrs. Ragsdale was born in Halifax County on October 5, 1928 the daughter of Willie White and Louise Edmondson and was married to Dophas Ragsdale Sr. and was a member of Mt. Pleasant CME Church.
Survivors include three daughters, Dorothy Hill of Halifax, Virginia Barksdale of Matthews and Queen Gilmore of Waynesboro, MS; three sons, Dophas Ragsdale Jr., Jerry Ragsdale and Donald Ragsdale, all of Halifax; 21 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; one sister, Beatrice Wilson of Hopewell; and one brother, William White of Richmond.
Funeral services for Mrs. Ragsdale will be held Saturday, May 9 at 2 p.m. at Mt. Pleasant CME Church with Rev. Donald Dean officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home.
Bryan Timothy Neal, 42, of Bowmantown Road, Roxboro, NC died Thursday, May 7, 1998 at his home.
Mr. Neal was born in Person County, NC the son of David Thomas 'D.T.' Neal and Shirley Glasscock Neal. He was a member of Duke Chapel and was a farmer. He served in the National Guard.
Survivors include his parents of Roxboro; and one sister, Wendy N. Stark of Amarilllo, TX.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 9 in Brooks & White Funeral Home Chapel in Roxboro with Revs. Margaret Via and Buddy Hall officiating. Burial will be in the Triple Springs Baptist Church cemetery.
The family will receive friends tonight, from 7 until 8:30 at Brooks & White Funeral Home.