Monday, August 11, 2003

Morris: Announcement ‘A Start’
Governor Warner Is Expected To Announce Plant Expansion, New Business For County Wednesday

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

"This is a start," Halifax County Industrial Development Authority Executive Director Scott Morris said yesterday. "But you have to remember, we've lost in the neighborhood of 3,000 jobs and it will take us years to get them back."

But perhaps there is a glimmer of hope for the county at last.

Governor Mark R. Warner will be at Riverstone Technology Park Wednesday to make what has been described as "some economic development announcements."

Warner will be at the site at 1:30 p.m., and is expected to announce one plant expansion and one new business for the county.

The exact number of jobs this means for the workers in Halifax County is unclear at this point.

Morris has said that the county is likely to get smaller manufacturing firms rather than the announcement of large employers during the slower economy.

But with the county's 11.8 percent unemployment rate and 2,361 people looking for work in June, any announcement is welcome for Morris.

"What we're having to go through right now is a rebuilding process," he said. "It's like we're building a wall and this is one brick.

"There is certainly more work to do," Morris added. "But this is a positive beginning, and that's good."

It would be easy to call the evaporation of factory jobs from small towns like South Boston merely the continuation of a longtime trend, but that would gloss over the recent past.

From 1991 to 1998, rural communities gained about 155,000 factory jobs, according to the Center for the Study of Rural America, based at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The backslide began slowly during the late ’90s. But rural manufacturing centers like Southside have really felt the bite from 2000 to the present.

Last year, in rural communities, 45 percent of all manufacturing jobs were the casualties of plant closures.

Urban centers lost 8.9 percent of their factory jobs between 1998 and the end of last year.

But rural towns have lost 13.4 percent of their manufacturing employment — 572,000 jobs, according to the Kansas City center.

The slump has multiple roots.

Businesses that buy many of the goods made in U.S. factories stopped investing in new equipment. Several years of a strong U.S. dollar have made it even more enticing for manufacturers to shift production overseas.

At plants that stayed open, tough times spurred operators to squeeze more products out of fewer workers.

‘‘It’s pretty bleak and they (the lost manufacturing jobs) are not coming back,’’ said Sophia Koropeckyj an economist with Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa. forecasting firm.

Factory shutdowns can be particularly tough on rural towns. Much of the explosion in service jobs that fed metro economies during the 1990s bypassed smaller communities. Workers in rural areas often have far fewer local employment alternatives than their city counterparts.

Many shutdowns have hit company towns long tied to single manufacturers like Burlington Industries, often in aging plants. Economists cite North Carolina — which has lost nearly 97,000 factory jobs, or 12 percent of its total, between mid-2000 and the end of last year — as something of a poster child for those changes.

The state, whose small towns have long been home to numerous labor-intensive textile, furniture and paper plants, has been walloped as more of those manufacturers move offshore.

Some communities saw the changes coming and worked to attract new businesses and help retrain workers to gradually make the shift.

But no one expected the departure of jobs to accelerate so quickly.

An example of the desperation felt by the ranks of the unemployed across Southside was evident in Danville last week, where over 300 people showed up for a job fair to compete for just 75 jobs, according to the Danville Register and Bee.

Hall Is Arrested On Drug Charges
Pulliam: Arrest To Have Major Impact On Cody, Volens

Officers from the Altavista Police Department and members of the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested a Nathalie man Friday who officers describe as a "major drug dealer", according to Maj. R.S.B. Pulliam of the Halifax/South Boston Regional Drug Task Force.

Caroll Connell Hall, aka "Pumpkin", 26, of Stage Coach Road was arrested on federal indictments charging him with the distribution of more than five grams of crack cocaine and distributing more than 50 grams of crack cocaine.

"Hall's arrest will have a major impact on the drug culture in the Cody and Volens area," Pulliam said.

He added that the arrest was part of Operation Community Caretaker, in which law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions have been working together targeting known drug hotspots in the area.

"This investigation focused on conducting traffic checkpoints, fugitive apprehensions, drug violations and related crimes in an effort to improve the quality of life within these communities," Pulliam said. "The operation has been successful and the task force promises additional arrests of co-conspirators in the very near future."

During the operation, 25 charges have been leveled against 16 individuals, according to the investigator.

"These charges range from criminal traffic violations and firearm violations to the possession of crack and marijuana," he added.

Pulliam said that officers expect approximately 10 additional indictments to be obtained against individuals pending the results of lab analysis.

"The task force is grateful for the telephone calls and letters passing along information about drug activity and violators in our communities," he said.

Hall is currently being held in Roanoke and is expected to appear before a federal judge in the near future, according to Pulliam.

He added that the charges against Hall stem from a multi-year investigaion involving the Altavista Police Department, the DEA, the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office, the Campbell County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the task force.

In other police business, Tony Andrew Venable, 36, of Mountain Road in Halifax, was arrested Saturday and charged with third-offense larceny of merchandise from Food Lion, a felony.

Venable was additionally charged with driving on a suspended license, reckless driving and the concealment of merchandise valued at less than $200.

The alleged offenses occurred March 6.

Deputy P.C. Clayton was the arresting deputy.

Vinston Logan, 59, of Darlington Street in Forestville, Md., was arrested Saturday and charged with driving under the influence.

The alleged offense occurred Friday night.

Deputy T.O. Lewis was the arresting deputy.

Tyrone Howard, 51, of S Street Northeast in Washington, D.C., was arrested Saturday and charged with the possession of marijuana.

The alleged offense occurred Saturday.

Deputy C.S. Yeatts was the arresting deputy.

Council Seeking Dumpster Solution
Road Access To Sewer Plant On Tuesday’s Agenda

Seeking solutions to the impact of the county's removal of green boxes and recycling containers at Mary Bethune Complex, and assuring road access to its sewer plant top Halifax Council's Tuesday night agenda.

Council meets at 7:30 p.m. at Halifax Town Hall on Main Street.

The county green boxes were moved in order to pave that portion of the Bethune Complex parking lot prior to the Dixie Softball tournament, which held games there last month.

County officials have said the boxes will not be replaced at the complex.
"We need to work something out," town manager Carl Espy said yesterday.

The town's Planning Commission report will address the issue Tuesday night.
Espy said there had been some contact with the county and also with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries regarding the green dumpster located at the Banister River boat landing located off of Highway 501 north.

The town manager described conditions at the boat landing and the (one) green box located near the Blue Ridge Regional Jail as "a mess." Several recycling boxes are also located at the jail site.

In other business, Chaparral, a land development company, recently purchased land that provided the town road access to its sewer plant.

Previously, landowner Burlington Industries had allowed the town access through the property.

Wayne Stevens, president of Chaparral, said last week that he wants to work with the town, but that he hopes to see the land adjacent to the old Burlington plant developed.

He said the parcel offered available railroad access, road frontage and land situated along the Banister River and other amenities.

Councilmen are also expected to address Planning Commission reports regarding a voluntary truck route.

Obituaries

Louise Lloyd Covington

Graveside services for Mrs. Louise Lloyd Covington will be held today at 2 p.m. at the Crystal Hill Southern Baptist Church cemetery.

The Rev. Ed Griffin will officiate.

Mrs. Covington died Saturday, August 9, at the Twin Oaks Nursing Home.
She was 93.

Mrs. Covington was born in Halifax County on January 16, 1910 to the late Charlie Lloyd and the late Mattie Moore Lloyd.

She was married to Willie Lewis Covington and was a member of the Winns Creek Baptist Church.

Survivors include one daughter, Elsie C. Hoy of Richmond, one son, Willie Thomas Covington of Danville, one sister, Thelma Martin of Randolph, one brother, Jessie Lloyd, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

For memorials, please consider the Winns Creek Baptist Church.

Katherine Vaughan Sprowl

Graveside services for Mrs. Katherine Vaughan Sprowl, formerly of Scottsburg, will be held Wednesday, August 13, at 11 a.m. at the Oakland Cemetery in Scottsburg.

The Rev. Jason Murray of Fork Baptist Church will officiate.

Mrs. Sprowl of Grotton, Conn., died August 6 at the Camelot Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in New London, Conn.

She was the daughter of William E. and Mattie T. Vaughan Sr. of Scottsburg.
Mrs. Sprowl was married to the late Hugh L. Sprowl. She was very active with the Submarine Veterans of WWII in Groton.

Survivors include three sons, William Page of Uncasville, Conn., Hugh L.
Sprowl of Daytona Beach, Fl., and Edwin A. Sprowl of Lakeworth, Fl., a sister, Louise Bull of Williamsburg, one brother, William "Buck" Vaughan Jr. of Scottsburg, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

She was preceded in death by one brother and two sisters.

Gators Fall In Home Opener
Have Four Consecutive Losses To Start ’03 Season

By DOUG FORD| G-V Staff Writer

The Gastonia Gladiators used a 21-point first quarter blitz on its way to a 42-0 win over the Southside Virginia Gators, spoiling the Gators' home opener at Mary Bethune Field Saturday night.

Gastonia added touchdowns in the second, third and fourth quarters to hand the winless Gators their fourth consecutive loss of the season.

Gators' coach Wayne Sutphin said a couple of factors may have factored into Gastonia's first quarter scoring binge.

"We tried to put in some new plays, and it might have thrown us off early," said Sutphin.

"That, and we came out a little flat. The Gladiators had a decent sized line and a pretty good passing game, with a lot of mid-range passing."

Gastonia wasted little time in taking the lead in the first quarter, scoring on a 30-yard pass after the Gators were stopped on a fourth down run at its own 34 yard line.

The automatic extra point made the score 7-0.

Gators quarterback Chase Fitzgerald had his first pass attempt of the game intercepted on the team's next series, the Gladiators setting up shop at the Gators 20 yard line.

A 10-yard pass completion and a 10-yard sweep made the score 14-0 at the 9:22 mark of the first quarter.

Gastonia added to the lead after recovering a Fitzgerald fumble on a sack at the Gators 22 yard line.

The Gladiators used two running plays to reach the endzone for a 21-0 lead.
The Gators got their initial first down of the game their next series on a 35 yard pass completion, Fitzgerald hitting Jermaine Totten from the end zone.
Another fourth down run failed, however, Gastonia taking possession on the Gators 40 yard line.

Two pass completions took Gastonia to a second and goal from inside the Gators 10 yard line as the first quarter ended.

The Gators defense stiffened, lineman Kenneth Nicholson recovering a Gladiator fumble to stop the drive.

The Gators had to punt out of their own end zone on the following series, Gastonia taking over at the 11 yard line, but the Gators defense stepped up again.

Gastonia's quarterback was forced out of bounds for a 10-yard loss on a scramble, and the Gators came up with their second turnover of the game.
Alfred Ford intercepted a fourth down pass and lateraled to Greg Saunders, who returned to the Gators 45 yard line.

After another three and out, Gastonia took over on its 35 yard line, completing another pass to the Gators 48.

A pass interference call on the Gators took the ball to the 20 yard line, and after a Gastonia holding penalty and Gators offsides, an 11 yard touchdown run made it 28-0 with little more than two minutes left in the half.

The Gators failed to convert on another fourth down gamble, quarterback Mike Nunnally throwing an interception from the 38 yard line.

After a long Gladiator pass completion to inside the Gators 10 yard line, the defense came up big again, stripping the receiver and recovering the ball to stop another Gastonia scoring threat.

Gastonia scored a third quarter touchdown on a pass and added its final score on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the final margin.

Sutphin noted a few good performances, particularly on defense, with Ford, Rahiem Venable and Greg Saunders having good games.

Offensively, the Gators just could not get anything going, according to Sutphin.

"Chase Fitzgerald came in the week before and was just activated," Sutphin said.

"He did about as well (at quarterback) as we could expect, and our line did a better job of blocking, but they need to do a better job of picking up backside blitzes."

Sutphin said he made the change at quarterback to Nunnally in the second quarter, and went back to the spread offense the team ran last season.

"We decided to spread the defense and did more running in the second quarter and the rest of the game," said Sutphin.

He added there were still some things the team needed to work on before next Saturday's game on the road at the Cumberland Valley Cardinals, a team out of Pennsylvania.

The Gators play their next home game August 23 at Mary Bethune Field against the Carolina Heat.

Game time is 6 p.m.