On the heels of an annexation meeting between Halifax Town
Council and supervisors Wednesday night, town officials yesterday
announced a special council meeting Monday on the same issue.
The Monday meeting is closed, as was the Wednesday night session
between town and county officials.
Supervisors and councilmen agreed during their annexation talks
to meet again on August 3 at Mary Bethune Complex.
During the Wednesday night meeting, ground rules and expectations
were discussed, according to county administrator Dan Sleeper.
Halifax Town Council voted in June to proceed with annexation,
hoping to complete the process by December 31, 1999.
Proposed town boundaries would meet the Town of South Boston in
the Centerville area, include Salishan and the Golf Course Road
communities, include the Burlington plant, and move west up Mountain
Road.
Halifax Town Council
In regular Tuesday night session, Halifax councilmen discussed
parking violations downtown and along Maple Avenue as well as
through traffic on Maple and Church Street.
Councilmen decided to wait until the new public parking lot adjacent
to the Regional Jail opens before taking action, but did refer
the issue to committee for study and report at the August meeting.
Councilman Sam Thompson asked for repairs along Houston Street
in Halifax. He described water puddles and crumbling asphalt in
a section where the parking area and street meet.
Councilmen also discussed sidewalk repair currently underway in
front of the courthouse; were advised the Hot Rod Club plans an
October meet in the town; and discussed increasing parking lot
fees but took no action.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Legislature approved a tax break for R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris Cos. with no way to ensure
it will help protect North Carolina cigarette plant jobs as intended.
The proposal was approved by the House in a 108-9 vote Wednesday and
goes to Gov. Jim Hunt for his signature. Legislative researchers
estimate the credits will cost the state up to $60 million
by 2005, when the tax break would end. That number could be higher
if tobacco exports boom.
The two companies could receive about $9 million a year in combined
tax breaks for cigarettes they produce for export. The total
amount of the credit would vary depending on how many cigarettes
the companies produce.
The tax credit was included in a bill that also establishes a board
of directors to oversee a $1.9 billion trust fund for the state's
leaf growers and quota holders.
Supporters of the credits said tobacco remains a crucial part
of the state economy that must be protected with job-encouraging
tax breaks. Opponents contend the incentive plan amounts
to a giveaway of taxpayer dollars to profitable corporations
with few strings attached.
''I say to you this is a welfare payment to big corporations that
we really shouldn't be making,'' said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham.
Rep. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, called it unfair to paint the tax break
as corporate welfare.
''The truth is that Philip Morris is the largest taxpayer in the United
States,'' he said.
About 1,400 jobs at the two companies are linked to cigarette exports.
R.J. Reynolds is headquartered in Winston-Salem and has 6,400 workers
in Forsyth County. All of the company's cigarette manufacturing
operations are in North Carolina, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Philip Morris Co. employs about 2,500 in its Cabarrus County plant
and is that county's largest taxpayer.
Supporters believe the tax break may prompt Philip Morris to move
jobs to its Cabarrus County plant from a factory it is closing in
Louisville, Ky.
But backers including Rep. Rex Baker, R-Stokes, a former RJR executive,
said it would be possible for Philip Morris to claim the North
Carolina tax credit for cigarettes made in other states.
Legislative bill drafters said Tuesday the state cannot restrict the
tax break to cigarettes made in North Carolina because of a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that said that the state cannot extend preferential
tax treatment to companies that do business in the state.
A Philip Morris spokesman said the company had made no promises to
claim tax credits only for North Carolina jobs.
''We have not made any assurances at all,'' spokesman Rusty Cheuvront
said. ''We have not made any commitments regarding the tax
credits.''
At a Tuesday hearing by the House Finance Committee, legislative researchers
also warned the bill may violate international law and the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the global trade treaty,
by subsidizing exports. Other nations that produce cigarettes
could petition the U.S. government to stop the tax credits
or give them similar aid.
The research director for a Chapel Hill campaign reform group said
the bill was largely written by an attorney for R.J. Reynolds. Bob
Hall also suggested that Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, who sponsored
the provision, has a conflict of interest. Her husband is a
managing partner for the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice,
which works for RJR.
Garrou said she met with representatives from Reynolds and Philip
Morris to work on some technical aspects of the bill, but denied
any connection between her husband's job and the bill.
A Reynolds spokeswoman said the company has not retained Womble Carlyle
to represent the company on the tax credits.
Looking out over 170 acres with the "white crosses all
perfectly lined up," W. R. Snead Sr.'s eyes grew misty.
Some of his friends are there, high above wind-swept Omaha Beach.
His Bluefield buddy Robert Snell is there, forever in memory "the
20-year-old with cold black hair. The wonderful person."
A young Snead buried many of these soldiers, but not at the Normandy
cemetery. He buried them near the beach.
Trained with the amphibious engineers, Snead hit Omaha Beach in
the afternoon of D-Day, 1944.
His job was "to do whatever needed to be done on the beach
for vehicles, trucks and tanks," and to get supplies moving
inland.
But coming ashore, he saw dead GIs everywhere.
He and other Americans buried them nearby as soon as they could.
Later, some of the Americans would be moved to the 9,386-grave
Normandy cemetery. Others would be shipped home.
Until World War II, W.R. "Willie" Snead had never been
more than 30 miles from his Danville home.
Still a teenager, young Snead first heard about World War II when
he rode his bike to a Danville store one Sunday and heard men
listening to President Roosevelt on the radio. It was Dec. 7,
Pearl Harbor.
Two and one-half years later, he would hit the beach at Omaha.
"My first 10 or 15 years back home I blotted it completely
out of my mind," recalled the veteran. "I never thought
about it."
But when he does remember war, it is a noisy, turbulent hell he
recalls, a D-Day that started with his ship sinking in rough seas.
"We were about 11 miles out from the beach when we were hit
by another ship," he began.
A net was thrown from one craft to the next so that the men could
cross over before the ship went down.
Soon they were on their way again,, low in the water as their
craft took its cargo of men and weapons to war.
"All we could see was smoke and fire ...and the battleships
pouring thousands of rounds per minute into German bunkers,"
recalled Snead.
When the craft's ramp finally opened, Snead and his buddies were
in deep water fighting their way to shore.
In the sea around them and on the beaches ahead were fallen Americans.
"I remember very well one soldier inland," continued
the veteran. "He had pulled out some pictures of his family.
I guess he knew he just had a few minutes to live.
"It was intense. Shells were going off everywhere,"
added the veteran.
"We weren't looking back because there wasn't anywhere to
go," said the soldier. "And we had fire in us.
"We had trained in Wales for five months, doing nothing but
landings so we would know exactly what to do when we hit the beach.
And I had trained at Ft. Bragg for nearly a year for the invasion.
Once a soldier gets that training, there is nothing to do but
push forward."
Still, overlooking the Normandy cemetery this summer, Snead was
overcome by emotion.
"I just stood there and thanked God that he allowed me to
come back home," said the veteran. "There was just a
feeling on the cemetery grounds, knowing the husbands and sons
lost.
"I wish every World War II veteran could go back," added
Snead.
"Especially if they could go back with their family,"
added Snead's son Bill.
Fifty-five years after D-Day, Willie Snead did just that. He,
his sons, Bill and Jimmy, and their wives, Linda and Cheryl, as
well as his daughter, Carolyn Snead Bransby, returned to Normandy.
In the streets of St. Lo, French teenagers welcomed them. "Thank
you for my freedom," said one when he learned Snead was a
D-Day veteran.
"And he shook his hand. It sort of caught us off guard,"
recalled Bill Snead.
"I am 75 years old but I felt young, I felt good talking
to those young folks," recalled the veteran.
The Sneads also found Robert W. Snell's cross in the cemetery,
one bearing a June 11, 1944, date.
"They were brave young men who fought for their country,"
said Snead softly. "They sacrificed for the United States.
I don't know why people today would burn the flag.
"If they would just go look at the cemetery ...such a reverent
feeling you get there," added the veteran.
"I don't think an American could walk through that cemetery
and not cry," said Bill Snead.
Along the Normandy coast, much remains the same today.
"The German bunkers are still there," said Snead. "There's
no hotel, no motel, no swimming on Omaha and Utah. It's just like
we left it ...only the Germans are gone."
The shriek and thunder of low flying jet planes may become
commonplace to some Halifax County residents before too long when
Air Force bombers streak overhead on their way to training missions
in Dare County.
The U.S. Air Force is looking into the feasibility and environmental
impact of having the trainee pilots traverse a 15-mile-wide training
path stretching from the mountains of southwestern Virginia, continuing
across the state and over Halifax County, through North Carolina
at Person County and continuing east-southeast on a straight line
through Granville and Vance counties to Dare County where the
Air Force maintains a bombing range.
The Air Force would like to conduct these B-1 runs 96 times a
year, or eight times a month.
At times the supersonic strategic bombers, which are part of the
116th Bombardment Wind stationed at Warner Robins Air Force Base
south of Macon, Ga., will fly as low as 500 feet - close enough
for the pilot to see farmers pointing up at him from the fields
below, if he wasn't flying at speeds between 500 and 550 mph,
that is.
The low altitude is necessary for navigation reasons, as the four-man
bomber crews will use both instruments and visual cues to get
them to the target.
While the Air Force already uses the skyway, the jet fighters
flying over Halifax County are smaller, such as F-14 and F-15s,
and travel at higher altitudes. Currently, bombers fly a different
route when using the Dare County Range.
While some may not like the idea of a 200-ton fighter plane screaming
across the sky, all they can do at this point to protest is to
contact their local government officials, as the Air Force is
not accepting comments from individual citizens at this time.
Currently Science Applications International Corp. has been hired
to conduct an "environmental impact study."
"This study will look into any effect these flights might
have on the ground, air, humans, flora, fauna - I mean everything,"
said Captain Sandy Troeber, a public-affairs officer at Langley
Air Force Base in Virginia who added that the Air Force tries
not to disturb people on the ground with flying missions. "There
will also be public meetings held before any of these flights
take place."
Two couples were charged following domestic disputes this week
in Halifax County, according sheriff's reports.
Most recently, Lewis Randolph Martin, 38, and Tina Marie Martin,
37, both of 1029 Spencer Lane, Halifax, were charged with assault
and battery after Halifax County Sheriff's deputies were called
out to their home shortly after midnight Thursday morning.
Both are scheduled to appear in Halifax County Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court July 21.
A husband and wife were both charged with assault following a
reported dispute Tuesday night.
Deputies charged Joy and John Thaxton of Route 924, Nathalie,
with assault and battery after they called the sheriff's office
with complaints.
Officials at the sheriff's office said Mrs. Thaxton called the
office around 7 p.m. and reported that her husband was after her
with a pistol.
A few minutes later Mr. Thaxton called and reportedly said Mrs.
Thaxton was after him with a baseball bat.
When the three deputies responded to the home, they found Mr.
Thaxton suffering from an injury to the back of his head. Mrs.
Thaxton had no visible injuries, according to reports.
Protective orders were filed, and the couple will appear in Halifax
Count Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court at a future date.
A South Boston woman convicted of possessing and attempting
to obtain a Schedule III controlled substance without a valid
prescription will remain free on bond until she is sentenced this
fall.
Halifax County Circuit Court Judge Charles L. McCormick III Monday
found Sherry Meade Hayes, 35, of Spruce Lane, South Boston, guilty
of attempting to obtain Hydrocodone and possession of the Schedule
III drug without a valid prescription.
Hayes, who pleaded guilty to both charges, was arrested after
she went to the pharmacy at CVS in Hupps Mill last February and
signed for the pain medication that had not been called in by
a physician.
A store employee identified Hayes in the parking lot for a local
police officer, who then arrested her.
Hayes will remain free on bond until a presentence report is prepared
for the September term of Halifax County Circuit Court.
Monday McCormick also found Gregory Scott New guilty of two counts
of grand larceny/embezzlement involving a money order and one
count of embezzling less than $200 last February.
Court records indicated that New, 38, of Bold Springs Road, South
Boston, pleaded guilty to stealing the money orders from The Jiffy
Store on Wilborn Avenue in South Boston while he was an employee
there and then selling them to other people for less than their
face value.
The following day, an admitted crack cocaine user from Nathalie
pleaded guilty to stealing from his uncle to pay for his habit.
Court documents indicated that Frank Seamster Jr., 30, of Cousin's
Lane, Nathalie, admitted to stealing a VCR, a .20 gauge shotgun
and numerous tools from his uncle, Elijah Granville Seamster,
when he ran out of money to pay for crack cocaine in February
and March of this year.
Circuit Court Judge William L. Wellons found Seamster guilty of
one count of grand larceny and two counts of petit larceny.
An evaluation and presentence report was ordered.
Wednesday, Wellons found Sandra Faucette, 34, of East Hyco Road,
South Boston, guilty of possessing a Schedule II controlled substance,
namely cocaine January 2.
Faucette, who pleaded guilty, will remain free on bond until she
is sentence in September.
Howard Anderson Yancey, 28, of Red Bank Road, Virgilina, pleaded
not guilty to possessing a firearm after being convicted of a
felony, but was found guilty and will be made to forfeit the guns
when he is sentenced in September.
Wellons ordered that Yancey be allowed to remain free on bond
until that time.
Also Wednesday, Joseph Dewayne Johnson, 24, of Danville, was convicted
of stealing gasoline and driving after being declared an habitual
offender.
Wellons nol prossed charges of reckless driving and eluding police
and ordered Johnson remanded to the Blue Ridge Regional Adult
Detention center pending the outcome of his sentencing hearing
in September.
Although Howard Clark Jr., 43, of Stith Lane, Clover, pleaded
not guilty to writing a bad check for $665.67 to Lightweight Block
Co. October 20 of last year, Wellons found him guilty as charged.
Clark will remain free on bond until he is sentence in September.
REMINGTON, Va. (AP) - A series of power plants proposed near
the sprawling northern Virginia suburbs is raising concerns
that the already borderline air quality in the region and
northward would suffer.
Virginia Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative each have proposed
natural gas-powered plants in outlying areas of the region.
They say they want to position themselves for the impending deregulation
of the power industry and meet growing demand for electricity
in one of the nation's fastest-growing regions.
A 600-megawatt Virginia Power plant is under contruction near Remington
in southern Fauquier County. The other plants are under consideration,
including another Virginia Power plant near Ladysmith in
Caroline County and Old Dominion plants in Remington and
near Boswells Tavern in Louisa County.
The plants are all located from 10 to 40 miles outside a regional
smog-reduction area near Washington, but Environmental Protection
Agency officials have warned the state that the impact of
the plants could be felt within that zone.
''I am concerned that a pattern of development is emerging, either
through design or circumstance, that could circumvent the level
of protection Congress intended'' with the Clean Air Act, EPA Administrator
W. Michael McCabe wrote to Virginia Secretary of Natural
Resources John Paul Woodley recently.
McCabe said the EPA must be informed of power plant permit applications.
Power company officials insist the locations for the plants have everything
to do with convenience and nothing to do with avoiding the
smog restrictions.
''These sites are near, if not adjacent to, the intersection of natural
gas pipelines and high voltage transmission lines. It has nothing
to do with the location of the zones,'' said Virginia Power spokesman
Jim Norville.
''These are ideal locations for these types of power plants - close
to a fuel source and they can hook right into a transmission system,''
Norville said.
Within the nearby zones, emissions of smog-producing nitrogen oxides
from any new power plants would have to be offset by reductions
elsewhere. Nitrogen oxides have been linked to respiratory
problems in elderly people and children.
Virginia officials said it's too early to determine what effect the
plants would have on air quality, and note that only one plant is
being built.
Officials in Washington and Maryland, though, remain concerned.
''Our ability to attain (pollution limits) is affected by the upwind
states,'' said Merrylin Zaw-Mon, a Maryland Department of the
Environment official. ''Virginia has to do its part.''
Mary Lovelace Wade of Hampton died Tuesday, July 13, 1999 at
Hampton General Hospital at the age of 79.
Mrs. Wade was born in Halifax County on May 5, 1920.
Survivors include one daughter, Jennie Ballou of Halifax; one
son, Billy Lovelace of Hampton; seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Mrs. Wade will be held today, July 16 at
2 p.m. at St. Paul CME Church in Halifax with Rev. George Brown
officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
James Edmunds, 52, of 1596 Ringgold Depot Road, Ringgold died
Wednesday, July 14, 1999 at Danville Regional Medical Center.
Mr. Edmunds was born November 14, 1946 in Halifax County the son
of Charlie H. Edmunds Sr. and Martha Williams Edmunds and was
married to Lucinda Penick Edmunds. He was employed as a welder
at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Katina
M. Richmond of Greensboro, NC and Kimberly Renee Edmunds of Richmond;
two sons, James Allen Edmunds of Aviano, Italy and Jeffrey Olando
Edmunds of Ringgold; one brother, Charlie H. Edmunds Jr. of Columbus,
OH.
Funeral services for Mr. Edmunds will be conducted Saturday, July
17 at 1 p.m. from New Arbor Baptist Church, South Boston with
Rev. Nelson C. Stamps officiating. Burial will follow in the church
cemetery.The family will receive friends at the home.