Many were there to watch their tobacco sell.
For some, it was another day of work.
And for others, inside the Planters-Star Warehouse yesterday morning was a good place for conversation.
"We came to see if we could find any old faces," said Bett Carden whose husband, Leo, is a retired tobacconist.
You could say tobacco was the reason the two met.
She was working as a bookkeeper for the James I. Miller Tobacco Co. in her hometown of Lake City, Kentucky, and Leo was a buyer for the Imperial Tobacco Co. His assignments included the burley market in Lake City and now, 49 years after their marriage, the South Boston couple still attends the opening day sale.
An estimated 150 persons were on hand for the first sale but, unlike previous market openings, it was without ceremony. Perhaps the lack of any fanfare speaks volumes for what is happening to the traditional auction system.
"I came here to see history happen," remarked a Mecklenburg County producer who contracted directly with Star of Petersburg to sell not only his 2001 crop but his carryover pounds from last season.
The policy of cigarette companies contracting directly with growers has almost dried up the supply of tobacco being sold at auction. The Planters-Star is not only South Boston's only warehouse this season but one of just nine still operating in Virginia.
For those whose living depends on the auction system, like auctioneer Carlton Gravitt and ticket market Willie Conner, changes that are occurring in tobacco are hitting them where it hurts the most.
Gravitt has been auctioning tobacco for 19 years and after finishing up the flue-cured market, he would move on to Kentucky, and sell the burley market. And for the first time ever, burley growers are having to designate where they intend to sell their crops this year.
Direct contracting is also a factor in the burley belt and if auction bound leaf volume falls as predicted, Gravitt doubts he'll return to Kentucky this season.
Conner, who has worked as a ticket market since 1973, has already decided to call it quits. "I can't afford to go out there," he said.
Yesterday's sales volume was 552,882 lbs. for a value of $1,052,338 at an average price per hundred of $187.74. Highest price was $202. Stabilization received 6.53 percent of the total offering which, according to warehouse operators, was mostly lugs and primings.
"It's a rare thing to see this much good tobacco in a warehouse," Larry McPeters, Halifax County's extension agent, said as he looked across rows of both tied and bundled tobacco waiting to be sold.

Leaf Farmers Lobby For Quota Buyout, FDA Regulation

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 200 tobacco farmers from 11 states fanned out across Capitol Hill on Wednesday urging lawmakers to support a presidential commission's proposal to pay leaf growers to stop growing the crop and to authorize the government to regulate cigarettes.
''This would let the folks who want to get out of tobacco have a way out and let others who want to stay in get more of it,'' said Eddie Warren, a farmer from Richmond, Ky.
Warren also said farmers who once fought giving the Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco no longer oppose that as long as new regulations affect tobacco products - not the leaf itself.
But grower Dan Morgan, of Weston, Mo., says some farmers would even support collaborative efforts between growers and the FDA.
''I think most growers want the opportunity to grow tobacco in that situation, where you have the scientific community helping you ... to raise a safer product,'' Morgan said.
Former President Clinton formed the panel of health advocates, economists and farmers, directing them to find ways to give growers an economic boost while protecting public health. The panel released a report in May recommending that a new 17-cent cigarette excise tax be used to fund a buyout of the federal tobacco quota system.
''Personally I do not support raising tobacco taxes and expanding FDA authority over tobacco like the commission proposes,'' said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. ''Some of us in Congress have been fighting to cut taxes, not raise them.''
Bunning said he continues to want to hear from farmers on the issue.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the buyout package will never pass.
''The likelihood of the current buyout proposal passing Congress is very slim,'' McConnell said. ''The mood in Washington is that of cutting taxes, not raising taxes. Trying to get a 17-cent excise tax increase and then walling money off to be spent in a handful of states would be extremely difficult.''
McConnell said he'll listen to any other suggestions that would help farmers.
''I remain open to any solution that is achievable in our current political environment and both beneficial for and fully supported by Kentucky's tobacco farm families,'' he said.
The White House says it is studying the report.
Farmers who met with tobacco-state lawmakers Wednesday said many were skeptical about FDA regulation and the proposed tax.
The commission estimates the 17-cent increase in the current 34-cent per pack tax would raise $3.4 billion annually for the buyout of the tobacco-quota system.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said lawmakers from non-tobacco growing states have said a new revenue source is needed to fund a quota buyout.
Quotas are allotments dictating how much tobacco farmers can grow. The commission proposes paying farmers to give up their quotas. Those who keep growing tobacco would get production licenses. Unlike quotas, those could not be rented to other farmers. That would put tobacco production in the hands of active growers only and lower production costs for farmers, according to the commission.
Tobacco farmers in recent years have experienced steep cuts in the amount of tobacco they can grow due to declining cigarette sales and an increased reliance on cheaper tobacco from overseas.
The commission recommends giving FDA the power to regulate advertising that might reach teen-agers and require companies to remove harmful or addictive substances from cigarettes.
The FDA asserted jurisdiction over tobacco and sought to crack down on cigarette sales to minors in 1996. But last year the Supreme Court ruled that the agency needed congressional approval.
The nation's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris Inc., is supporting limited FDA regulation.
Health advocates say it doesn't go far enough. And other tobacco companies fear Philip Morris is trying to protect its market share, since advertising limits and other restrictions would likely have a greater effect on smaller companies.
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On the Net:
Tobacco commission: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/tobcom/

The South Boston animal control officer quit this week charging harassment by town officials.
Former animal control officer Teresa Farris alleged Police Chief Jim Hall suggested she might have to go into a sewer, a task that she said violated OSHA regulations.
Farris said that she told Hall that she would not violate the law.
Calling the matter a personnel issue, Chief Hall said yesterday that he had no comment.
Town Manager Ted Daniel said that he would not comment on a specific personnel issue, but he noted that there is an established grievance procedure for employees to follow if they have concerns involving their job or supervisors.
Daniel said that he was not aware of any grievance having been filed by the animal control officer.
Farris had worked for the town for four and one-half years.
The Farris letter to the editor follows:
Leaving a Thankless Job
I have been the animal control officer for the Town of South Boston for four and one-half years. I turned in my resignation as of July 24, 2001.
It has been only a day since I have left and the phone calls have poured in from people wondering why I left. I pondered over what to tell people, but if you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through, it will blow up everything in its way.
Since my duration as ACO I have been called upon to answer various calls, from fleas in a house to climbing up on rooftops catching pigeons, not to mention every form of wildlife. I complied and provided this additional service under the orders from Chief Hall and Town Manager Ted Daniel.
Things took a turn for the worse when before I had to leave for surgery I had accumulated 50-plus hours of comp. time and Chief Hall refused to pay me for this until I contacted the Labor Board. Ever since I have come back, I have been harassed and Chief Hall and Ted Daniel have continually added on to my job description (duties) that no other animal control (officer) working the town has done.
Chief Hall stated rats are animals and if he tells me to go down in the sewer, that's what I will do. I came back to advise Chief-Know-It-All Hall that going into a sewer was against OSHA regulations and I would not violate the law.
Don't get me wrong, I have done my job above and beyond the call of duty, or maybe it went unnoticed when I was out 'til 3 a.m. catching skunks. But I will never compromise or obey a direct violation of any law.
Once again another task was assigned to me by Town Manager Ted Daniel. He advised Chief Hall to advise me of additional services I would provide that no other ACO that has worked for this town has done before, that would be the picking up of road kill!
I could go on but what good would it do? I only wish to say the final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men or women the conviction and will to carry on. You might ask Chief-Know-It-All Hall why do so many carry on as far away from him as they can get?
I say to Chief Hall and Ted Daniel, give to every other human being every right you claim for yourself.
Ted Daniel relayed a message to my supervisor as of July 24, 2001 that I was to answer every call no matter what kind of animal or else he would consider giving my position to a police officer.
Well the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.
Chief Hall and Ted Daniel, thank you for opening my eyes to your small mindedness. It is better to die on my feet than to live on my knees.
So now you know why.
Teresa Farris

 The last of four co-defendants arrested for the January 25 robbery, abduction and wounding of Roger Ashley Crowe was convicted yesterday in Halifax County Circuit Court of three felonies resulting from his role in the crimes.
As the result of a plea agreement, 18-year-old Larry Darnell Gorham Jr. entered pleas of guilty to the robbery and abduction of Crowe, and entered an Alford plea to a charge of maliciously wounding Crowe during the robbery.
Under terms of an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but realizes prosecution evidence makes a guilty verdict almost a certainty.
Gorham, defended at trial by Tracy Quackenbush, waived his right to a jury trial prior to entering the plea agreement, which was accepted by Judge Leslie M. Osborn.
The Commonwealth also agreed under terms of the plea agreement to dismiss charges of carjacking, conspiracy to commit robbery, and use of a firearm to commit robbery, abduction, carjacking and malicious wounding.
Three other youths arrested for the crimes against Crowe, Markey J. Leigh, Jeffrey Jernell Lawson and Antonio Dwight Woods, have been previously convicted and are awaiting sentencing.
Crowe testified at Leigh's May 31 trial that he was acquainted with his attackers, saying that on the night of the crimes he had been riding around with Leigh in his (Crowe's) car, listening to the car's sound system.
That sound system was the object of the robbery.
Crowe and Leigh drove to a spot on Highway 671 near an unoccupied building, where the car stopped.
It was then, according to Crowe, that his attackers moved in, opened his car door, jerked him out, threw him to the ground and hit him with the butt of a gun.
Crowe told the court he was then thrown into the trunk of his own car, and while being driven some distance, overheard his attackers say they were going to kill him.
Crowe continued by saying he managed to kick open the trunk and jump out of the moving car. From there, he told the court that he began running on foot in an effort to escape his captors.
Because of head injuries he sustained in the attack, Crowe testified that he was unable to explain how he was later found by emergency responders inside his own vehicle.
Crowe was taken to Chapel Hill Medical Center for treatment of head injuries incurred during the robbery.
Gorham was remanded to custody after the trial to await sentencing in the September term of court.
Tuesday Court
· Stephen Hunter Thompson, 20, of South Boston, was convicted Tuesday of two counts of cocaine distribution and one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine.
Thompson is free on bond under post-conviction supervision of Halifax-Pittsylvania Court Services until presentencing in the September term of court.
Judge William L. Wellons additionally ordered Thompson be evaluated for the Alternative Sentencing programs.
· Pamela Gay Gentry, 26, of Halifax, entered a plea of guilty on Tuesday to misdemeanor marijuana possession and entered an Alford plea to to possession of methamphetamine.
The court deferred its finding of guilt until a presentence report is received in the September term of court
· Michael L. Winn, 35, of Kittrell, N.C., entered an Alford plea Tuesday to marijuana possession with the intent to manufacture as an accommodation as the result of a plea agreement.
Winn is free on bond until a presentence report in the September term of court.
· Bernard Allen Womack, 59, of South Boston, was convicted Tuesday of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Judge Wellons revoked Womack's prior bond and remanded him to custody to await presentencing in the September term of court.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - State officials have learned that alternative technology to hog lagoons promised by Smithfield Foods by next year won't be ready until July 2003.
One year after then-Attorney General Mike Easley negotiated an agreement with Smithfield that he said would lead to a cleaner pork industry, environmentalists say the agreement isn't living up to its promise. They point to the company's access to public research money generated by the settlement and its slow identification of pollution-prone farms as proof.
Advisers to Easley, now governor, told The News & Observer of Raleigh that his plan to phase out hog lagoons within five years is still on track.
''This agreement has the potential to change the agricultural landscape in eastern North Carolina,'' Attorney General Roy Cooper said. ''We want to find the most effective and affordable technology to eliminate these lagoons. We all wish the process could move faster.''
The agreement set a 2002 deadline for N.C. State University waste management expert Mike Williams to recommend an alternative waste technology to be adopted on farms owned by Virginia-based Smithfield and Premium Standard Farms of Kansas City. Williams said drawing up contracts for 16 experimental systems has delayed their testing on working farms until 2003.
State leaders, industry advocates, scientists and environmentalists agree that progress has been made toward solving the problem of hog waste, which has been blamed for polluting rivers and drinking water wells and creating foul odors. But to many, the process isn't working as expected.
Smithfield pledged $15 million to N.C. State for research into alternative technologies, but the university awarded $1.6 million of that money to research projects run by Smithfield and a firm led by a company executive.
The company wrangled with the state for nearly a year over identifying its most pollution-prone farms, as mandated in the agreement. In October 2000, Smithfield suggested there were 11. Last week, the company submitted a final tally of 107.
The agreement, however, only deals with phasing out lagoons on the 289 farms owned by the two companies. Ninety percent of the state's hog farms are under no obligation to change their waste handling practices.
''The public has been sold a bill of goods into thinking all of a sudden we're going to wake up and lagoons are going to be gone,'' said Chuck Stokes, a Greene County hog grower and president of a grassroots group called Frontline Farmers.
''The agreement will set a precedent that eventually will lead into new technology. Don't be fooled into thinking that it's going to be an overnight process. Without any doubt, there is no silver bullet at this point.''
Smithfield spokesman Will Allcott called the agreement a ''remarkably successful program - a great example of government and industry working together.''
But some environmentalists remain wary of Smithfield.
''Smithfield has continued to play the game to their advantage whenever possible, just like they always have,'' said Michelle Nowlin, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill. ''I think that has left a bitter taste with some of us who had really thought Smithfield might have finally changed their ways.''
Cooper said he expects the General Assembly to take action once a replacement technology is identified.
Asked whether he thought Smithfield Foods would be ready to convert its farms to this cleaner system, Cooper said, ''They'd better be. I believe in abiding by agreements. I expect that will happen.''

Every baseball coach and every player on every team dreams of running the tables and winning a World Series championship.
David Myers is no different.
Myers, who is taking the Virginia champion South Boston Dixie Majors all-star team to the Dixie Majors World Series this weekend, wants nothing more than to bring the World Series title back home to Virginia and South Boston.
His first goal, however, is bring home two World Series game wins.
Last year, South Boston gave Virginia its first ever win in the Dixie Majors World Series.
Myers wants to see the team go one better this time around.
"We want to win two games," Myers said.
"We started out trying to get there (to the World Series). Once we got there, we found out we had to improve if we wanted to compete. Last year we won a game and found we could compete. This year we want to go for two wins."
The way Myers views things, this year should be a progression of the South Boston Dixie majors program.
"Last year, the two teams that beat us finished first and third," Myers pointed out.
"That tells you that the teams that we lost to were very good teams. We had Louisiana (the third-place team) by three runs going into the seventh inning and couldn't hold them.
"We were within a run of Florida (the eventual champion) going into the sixth inning and they ended up beating us by four or five runs," added Myers.
"Florida had one kid going on a four-year scholarship to Miami and one other going to Florida State. They also had two players that were drafted by the Marlins right out of high school.
"We were there and the majority of our kids had not played high school ball or were on the team and didn't play much with the exception of Brian Medley and Josh Milam," continued Myers.
"So, we were real happy that our kids could compete at that level against those caliber of teams."
The key, Myers said, is to improve with each trip to the World Series.
"Every year we've gone to the World Series we've improved," Myers said.
"Our caliber of play has improved and our knowledge of how the other teams play the game is much better. Everything we do is better."
The team that Myers is taking to the World Series this weekend is a veteran team.
A handful of players on the team were members of the Halifax County High School baseball team that made it to the Final Four of the Group AAA State Tournament.
All but two members of the team, Brandon Enoch and Brandon Lewis, have played in at least one World Series at some time during their youth baseball careers.
A majority of the team members have played in three or four World Series.
One team member, Justin Shepperd, will be playing in his fifth World Series.
While that bodes well for South Boston, Myers said this is something of a different team than that of last year.
"It's hard to replace kids like Brian Medley, Antwan Ferrell and Brent Myers," Myers said.
"Brian and Brent played the middle together for several years, It's hard to replace that familiarity.
"This team has a little different mix," added Myers.
"We have some kids on the team who came back into the program this year and we had some kids who have made the team for the first time in awhile. But it seems like everybody is stepping up a little bit more each year."
Myers and the South team will face Mississippi Saturday at Dave Collins Park in their World Series opener.
How hard it will be to get past Mississippi in the opener is anyone's guess.
"It just depends on what Mississippi's got," Myers said.
"Some years they are very good and some years they're not very good. Last year they had what I thought was a real good team and they finished fourth."
Saturday's game against Mississippi is going to be a key game for the South Boston Dixie Majors all-star team.
"It's like Don Moore has always said, 'you can't win them all unless you win the first one,'" Myers said.
"You need to win that first game to make the road easier. That's not say that you can't lose the first game and still come back. But losing that first game puts you at an extreme disadvantage because after that you're playing either morning games of games in the hottest part of the day. And, you end up having to play an extra game if you come back to win it all."
Myers insists there is no pressure on this team.
"The only pressure is the pressure that I put on myself or the pressure the kids put on themselves," Myers pointed out.
"Our philosophy going into the World Series is that nobody is going to beat us except ourselves."
The World Series experience, Myers says, is built around fun.
One of the things that Myers says makes going to the World Series fun for him now is that Virginia is beginning to gain some respect.
"The fun things is that when you sit around and listen and some of the people don't know who you are," he said.
"We hear them say they don't to play Virginia, the host team or Tennessee.
"Nobody wants to play Virginia anymore and that is gratifying."
On a personal note, Myers said going to the World Series provides an opportunity to go to different places and experience different things.
"For myself, my wife Tricia and our family we are going to places we probably would never go to otherwise," Myers said,
"When I was playing softball, I went to St. Louis and New York. If I hadn't been playing ball, I'd have never gone.
"It sounds bad," Myers said, "and I don't mean this to be negative, but I wouldn't have taken the time to do that on my own with my family but I take time to do it with these kids.
"You tend to get all caught up in your work and family and personal life that, a lot of times, you don't take time or make time to do things on your own. Yet, you somehow find time to do things that benefit other people.
"For me, it's really gratifying to see a kid go to his first World Series have fun and play in his first World Series," added Myers.
"It's a special experience. We've got two kids this year who are going to their first World Series. That's part of the objective of our program. We want to give as many kids as we can an opportunity to play in a World Series."

Grace Blanks Wilkins

Grace Blanks Wilkins, 92, of Wytheville, formerly of Halifax County, died Sunday, July 15 at her residence.
Funeral services were held July 17, at 2 p.m. at the Grubb Funeral Home Chapel in Wytheville, with the Rev. Ann Blair officiating. Interment was in the Mt. Ephraim United Methodist Church Cemetery.
Mrs. Wilkins was a daughter of the late Ernest and Lutie Clemmons Blanks. She was a retired school teacher with 33 years of services.
Survivors include her husband, Ira E. Wilkins of Wytheville; two sons and a daughter-in-law, Eric L. and Kitty Wilkins, and Kenneth E. Wilkins, all of Wytheville; two brothers, Ryland Blanks and E.G Blanks, both of Nathalie; a daughter-in-law, Libby Wilkins of Wytheville; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a son, Ira E. Wilkins Jr.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider the Patrick Henry Boys Plantation in Brookneal.

Sarah McCraw Ragland Thompson

Sarah McCraw Ragland Thompson, 83, died July 22 in Bloomfield, Ct. She was born in South Boston on August 3, 1917, to the late John and Mary Hill McCraw.
Mrs. Thompson was first married to the late Seldon Ragland, and in later years was married to James E. Thompson. She was a member of First Baptist Church where she worked in many of the church's organizations for many years.
Survivors include two sons, James Ragland and Walter Ragland, both of Bloomfield; six grandchildren; a sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Shelton of South Boston; a niece, Karen McCraw Wade of South Boston; and four step-daughters. She was preceded in death by two sisters, Eurnice Bragg and Edna Chappell; and one brother, James McCraw.
Funeral services for Mrs. Thompson will be held July 29 at 1:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church, Ferry Street with the Rev. William Yancy as master of ceremonies and Rev. Penick Wagstaff, eulogist. Burial will follow in Rose Garden Cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the Chapel of Kent, Ballou and Crowder Funeral Service in South Boston Saturday evening from 7:00 to 8:00.