Singing cicada males seeking mates are causing a telephone jam at the Halifax Extension Office.
"Hundreds of calls within the past couple of weeks from folks in the Alton, Cluster Springs and Virgilina area," said Kim Giardini, horticulture technician.
The problem?
The periodical cicada, which appears every 13 to 17 years, is here.
Polly Covington of the Cluster Springs community captured one of the offensive summer guests and brought it to the Gazette-Virginian office last week.
It seems the "singing" ruckus usually lasts for several weeks and is produced only by the male.
"They can occur in very large numbers, and be a considerable nuisance (singing), and threat to young trees," advised a Virginia Cooperative Extension Service publication.
Extension officials report the periodical cicadas that occur in southern states usually have a 13-year life cycle while those in northern states have a 17-year cycle.
The immature stages live below the soil feeding on the roots of trees and shrubs for these long periods. The adults emerge in the spring, usually during May, mate, lay eggs, and the nymphs hatching from the eggs drop to the ground and begin another long period of feeding.
A border state, Virginia is in the position of being between 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas. So we can have both, periodical and a few species of annual cicadas.
The periodical cicada is described by extension agents as a small, one to one and a half inches, black insect with bright red eyes and reddish-orange wings.
The adult cicada appears in most areas in late May and early June.
The exact emergence time may be influenced by the existing ground conditions, moisture levels in the soil, and weather, according to experts.
However, the adults usually emerge at night. The relative humidity is high and potential bird predators are usually absent during those hours, according to extension experts.
May or June may find the soil surface and tree trunks in some areas littered with the cast skins of periodical cicadas.
Later the same day the males begin singing ....and the chorus lasts for several weeks.
Listed under biology and habits in the publication is the following: "Their feeding for 17 years on the roots of trees and large shrubs seem to have not harmful effects, but the egg-laying of the adult females can damage the tender new growth of some trees," advised the extension publication. "The adults do little feeding during their short life span (a few weeks). The nymphs that hatch from the eggs in about six weeks will begin a long life below the soil surface."
In addition to the periodical cicada, there are a few species of annual cicadas in Virginia with a four to seven-year life cycle, but adults of these species appear every year.
Those cicadas are large, one to two inches, dark brown and green, with large green eyes and clear wings. Again, the males are the noisy ones. The annual cicada's "shrill sounds" are an expected part of summer's outdoor symphony of insect sounds.
Seven people have been arrested on drug and firearm charges in a roundup which began Thursday, according to agents of the Tri-County Regional Drug Task Force.
Five additional subjects who have been indicted by a grand jury of the Halifax County Circuit Court are currently being sought, Sgt. Richard Pulliam of the Task Force pointed out.
"We don't want people to think that just because a major drug investigation and roundup (last fall's Operation Fall Harvest) is completed that there won't be ongoing investigations of such activities," Sgt. Pulliam pointed out. "We are here to enforce the laws."
Among those arrested since Thursday:
· John Robert Jones, 44, of Halifax was charged with a felony count of possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
His charges stem from an incident on October 30, 1997. Jones was released on bond pending his trial.
· Mitchell Wright Wilson, 32, of Virgilina was arrested on felony counts of possession of cocaine and attempting to buy crack cocaine.
The charges stem from an incident on January 31, 1998 when the task force agents raided an alleged crack house in Virgilina. While police were collecting evidence at the scene, Wilson allegedly approached the house, knocked on the door, and attempted to buy crack cocaine from Sgt. Pulliam, according to the investigation.
Wilson was released on bond pending his trial.
· Ray Carroll Foster Jr., 30, of Rose Hill Apartments in South Boston was arrested on a felony count of distribution of Percocet, a Scheduled II controlled drug.
The charge stemmed from an incident which occurred on September 13, 1997. He was released on bond pending his trial.
· Ginger Hughes, 30, of the same Rose Hill Apartments address as Foster, was charged with two felony counts of distribution of Percocet, a Schedule II controlled drug.
The charges stem from incidents which occurred on December 9, 1997 and September 13, 1997. She was released on bond pending her trial.
· Chris Heath, 21, of Georgetown, Georgia was charged with a felony count of possession of a firearm after having previously been convicted of a felony.
The charge stems from an incident which occurred on November 2, 1997. Heath is currently being held in the Halifax County Jail pending his trial.
· Michael Shane Pillow, 26, of Nathalie was charged with a felony count of distribution of marijuana. The alleged incident occurred on September 13, 1997.
He was released pending his trial.
· Frankie William Cash, 33, of South Boston was arrested on a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana. The alleged incident occurred on September 25, 1997. He was released on bond pending his trial.
The arrests were made by the task force, the Halifax County Sheriff's Department, the Virginia Department of ABC, and the South Boston Police Department.
By Doug Loftis
A prayer and a promise.
Construction at the South Boston Church of Christ might well fit that popular expression.
It started about six weeks ago and they're pleased the work is on schedule. That it's progressing at all is somewhat of a miracle considering how, and by whom, the work is being done.
"We hope to be finished by July...the Lord willing", B.B. Butler said while climbing up three rounds on a step ladder and handing a sheet of plywood to J.H. Cline and Herman Doss. Butler promised his wife before leaving home that morning he would not go up on the roof of the church located off US 501 at Centerville.
The once builder himself recalls how he traversed rafters fearlessly but that was years ago and the last time he decided to work up on the barn rooftop at his farm, it took the whole Butler family to get him down. "I froze!"
Cline, a retired Virginia Power worker, probably should take some advice from Butler. Cline was working on the church last year and took a fall that cracked some ribs and left him with pain but apparently, no real lessons.
Both Cline and Doss skinnied up the ladder and through an opening to reach the rooftop as they worked to fit into place sheathing where the church's new auditorium and existing education building join. Both are past 70 but are doing "what we can do" to see that the South Boston Church of Christ has its new addition ready for use by July.
"We did this much," Cline said while looking around at the framed walls and roof trusses that will add about 2,500 square feet to the church's facilities. "This really completes the building we started in 1975," said Cline.
The church's beginning dates back to 1968 when a group of believers started meeting in the Butler home. From there, the church took up residence on Wilborn Avenue in an old grocery store building before
Doss is the church's evangelist, a title that is preferred over pastor or preacher. He's retired from the Air Force and came here two years ago from Roanoke.
The church of Christ differs from most other Christian denominations in that it does not promote "membership" in the sense that it would require the vote of other members. The Church of Christ maintains that it is following the example of the early church (Acts 2:38,41) where those who repented and were baptized were saved, all then were added to the church (Acts 2:47).
"We have no right to demand anything beyond their obedient submission to the Savior," a statement reads from the church's bimonthly bulletin titled House To House/Heart To Heart. About 18,000 copies of the letter are being mailed to residents throughout Halifax County and surrounding areas.
The South Boston Church of Christ functions in part as a mission outreach of other churches in Tennessee. Similarly, the South Boston Church of Christ has supported mission start-ups such as exist today in Roxboro, N.C.
The South Boston church is small in numbers; about 30 persons attend Sunday Bible classes and worship regularly. But average weekly contributions exceed $500, an unlikely sum..
The church raised, among its members alone, over $34,000 towards the projected $75,000 expansion project. It is their hope and belief that the additional facilities -auditorium with baptistry, nursery and restrooms (accessible to the handicapped)- will promote growth.
The goal is to have the new auditorium ready for family Bible school in July. Except for the shingles, heating and air, wallboard, foundation and masonry work, the senior building team has performed all that's been done so far.
And their supervision?
"They wouldn't have gotten a thing done if it hadn't been for us women!" Betty Doss said as she looked around and then glanced upward where her husband and Cline were hammering away on the roof.
Those close to Valarie Louise Bowers say she was comfortable accepting the fact that she was seriously ill. "She knew she was going to heaven," her 15-year old sister Marjorie said as she gave the account of how Valarie first experienced a numbness in her left arm, shoulder and back.
From that initial sign in September of 1996, Valarie's treatments for cancer, first at Halifax Regional Hospital and later at Duke University Medical Center, included both surgery and radiation.
In and out of Duke for treatments over a period of more than a year, Valarie continued her studies at Halifax County Senior High until her condition forced her to receive home-bound instruction.
On May 12, while hospitalized at Duke, Valarie's life ended leaving her parents Gerry and Joan Bowers with over $60,000 of hospitalized expenses that were not covered by their health insurance.
He is employed at JPS Converter & Industrial Corp. and she is a teacher at Halifax County Senior High School. Left also to her parents was the responsibility of raising Valarie's two-year old daughter Shauna.
Classmates and friends of Valarie Bowers decided to conduct a Radiothon at the high school on Wednesday and convinced the area's two radio stations, WHLF/WJLC-FM and WSBV to conduct programing live from the school lobby.
Students talked and sang as they conducted their appeal both inside the school and beyond the campus to radio listeners as they raised more than $2,300. The fund-raising now will continue through a number of
organizations and churches included the church where Valarie and her family attend, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church near Cluster Springs.
Pastor of that church, the Rev. Joseph Dixon along with Ebenezer CME Church Pastor Kenneth DuBose -both of whom have regular program slots on WSBV, are involved in the fund-raiser.
Anyone desiring to assist the Bowers' family can do so by sending gifts to: P.O. Box 310, South Boston, VA 24592 and specify "Valarie Bowers Fund".organizations and churches included the church where Valarie and her family attend, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church near Cluster Springs.
Pastor of that church, the Rev. Joseph Dixon along with Ebenezer CME Church Pastor Kenneth DuBose -both of whom have regular program slots on WSBV, are involved in the fund-raiser.
Anyone desiring to assist the Bowers' family can do so by sending gifts to: P.O. Box 310, South Boston, VA 24592 and specify "Valarie Bowers Fund".
It just wasn't destined to be a good day of racing for Super Stock car owner Fred Milton Schmitt Jr., 60, of Madison Heights.
Schmitt was driving his race car hauler southbound on U.S. 501 headed to the South Boston Speedway for a Saturday night of racing.
Approximately one-half mile north of Rt. 626, an oncoming 1994 Chevrolet driven by LaClinton Boyd, 18, of Nathalie crashed head-on into the 1983 Ford truck which was towing a race car, according to the Virginia State Police.
Boyd apparently fell asleep, causing his car to run off the left side of the highway, then back across the roadway where it hit the truck head-on, police said.
Both drivers were injured in the 4:15 p.. crash. A passenger in Schmitt's truck, Kevin Hall, was also injured, according to the investigation.
After the collision, the truck ran off the right side of the road with the trailer rig becoming disengaged. It then crashed into the truck, causing total damages to the truck, race car, and trailer of $12,500, police said.
Damages to Boyd's Chevrolet were estimated at $6,000.
Boyd was charged by Virginia State trooper D.J. Cline with reckless driving.
Graveside services for Mr. John Robert "Bobby" Powell, Sr. of Alton, will be held tomorrow at Alton Baptist Church Cemetery at 11 a.m. Mr. Powell, owner and operator of United National Realty-Powell and Associates, died Sunday, May 31, 1998 at his home at the age of 62. He was born December 4, 1935.
He was the son of Mr. John Richard "Jack" Powell and Mrs. Justine Granger Powell and was married to Phyllis Hughes Powell.
Mr. Powell was a member of Alton Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife of Alton; one son and daughter-in-law, John Robert and Mickie Powell Jr. of Youngsville, N.C.; one daughter and son-in-law, Wanda and The Rev. Bill McEntire of Red Oak; two grandchildren, John Robert Powell III and Amanda Nicole Powell of Youngsville, N.C.; and two sisters, Clara P. Carver of Halifax and Sue P. Edwards of Poquoson.
The Rev. H.V. Conner will conduct services.
The family will receive friends tonight from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at Powell Funeral Home and at other times at their home at 2035 Denniston Rd., Alton.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial gifts to The Gideon Bible Memorial Fund be considered.
Edith Earp Meeler, age 72, of 1033 Foster Road, Alton died May 30, 1998 at her home. She was born March 22, 1926 in Halifax County and was the daughter of Henry G. Earp and Nora Hunt Earp and was married to Charles Philip Meeler, Sr.
Mrs. Meeler was a member of Calvary United Mehtodist Church.
Survivors include her husband, Charles Philip Meeler, Sr.,; one daughter, Pamela Carol Meeler, of Columbia, SC; one son, Charles Philip Meeler, Jr., of Durham, NC; one sister, Barbara E. Demnisky, of Alton; three brothers, U. Fuller Earp, of Blacksburg; and H. Staley Earp, and Curtis N. Earp, o f Danville and two grandchildren. Mrs. Meeler was preceeded in death by a daughter, Patricia M. Barnett, a son, Donald P. Meeler, sister, Elsie E. Loftis and brother, Samuel J. Earp.
Funeral services for Mrs. Meeler will be held at Calvary United Methodist Church, today (Monday, June 1) at 2:00 p.m. with the Rev. Darrell Campbell offficiating. Burial will take plaee in Floral Hills Memory Gardens, Danville.
The family requests in lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Shriner's Hospital in Greennville, SC or the charity of your choice.
Lottie Lucinda Penick-Walker of Halifax, died Tuesday, May 26 at Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC, at the age of 80.
She was born in Halifax County on May 8, 1918. Mrs. Walker retired from teaching school in 1981.
Mrs. Walker is survived by her sister, Eliza Garrett, of Halifax; one grandchild, Michelle Walker, of Glen Allen; one daughter-in-law, Joyce Ragsdale-Walker, of Glen Allen; and a devoted friend, Myrna Ewell, of Halifax.
Funeral services for Mrs. Walker were held Sunday, May 31 at 1:00 p.m. at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Nathalie.
The Reverend James Traynham was the officiating minister with interment in the church cemetery.