Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Hudson Execution Tonight
James Bryant Hudson Will Receive Lethal Injection For 2002 Shotgun Murders Of Walter Stanley Cole, Thomas Wesley Cole and Patsy Ayers Cole

BY KEITH STRANGE
G-V STAFF WRITER

Declining any further appeals that could delay his execution, convicted murderer James Bryant Hudson is scheduled to be put to death tonight.
He is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt at 9 p.m.

Hudson, 57, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death for the shotgun deaths of brothers Walter Stanley Cole, 56, and Thomas Wesley Cole, 64, and Wesley's wife, Patsy Ayers Cole, 64, outside their Virgie Cole Road home on July 3, 2002.

According to his attorney, Hudson has refused to appeal his sentence and will not be asking Gov. Mark Warner for clemency.

Halifax County Public Defender Buddy Ward, who defended Hudson during his trial, said Hudson is overwhelmed with remorse and wants to die for the crimes.

"Before the trial, he informed me very specifically that he didn't want to put on any evidence or argue his sentence," Ward said.

Maintaining his silence throughout his February 7, 2003 trial, Hudson was convicted of one count of capital murder, one count of first-degree murder and two counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of murder.

The capital murder charge stems from the murder of the two Cole brothers, while the first-degree murder conviction is the result of the shotgun death of Patsy Ayers Cole.

All three were killed by close-range shotgun blasts, then- Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker said.

During his April 17, 2003 sentencing, Hudson stood expressionless as the Halifax County Circuit Court gallery erupted into cheers as tearful family members and friends of the victims learned he would die for the crimes.

"These killings were cold-blooded and senseless," Judge Leslie M. Osborn said prior to sentencing Hudson to death. "There is no evidence of motive or justification. The victims were innocents."

Maintaining his silence throughout his February 7 trial and Tuesday's sentencing hearing, Hudson, 55, showed no emotion as the sentence was read.

Osborn said the fact that the defendant failed to express sorrow for the murders weighed on his decision.

"The defendant gave no testimony in his defense and has offered no evidence of remorse," he said.

A spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections said yesterday that Hudson has made it clear he would give no interviews.

Greenbacker said that on the day of the crimes, the two Cole brothers were driving their pickup truck along a shared driveway when they discovered Hudson's truck blocking the path.

Farm worker Martin Celis painted a graphic picture through an interpreter of a summer afternoon in the Hyco community during Hudson's preliminary hearing.

"I was watering some plants in the Cole garden," he said.

"Mr. Wesley was with me and later on got in a truck with Mr. Stanley," he added.

The migrant worker further testified he saw the truck go to the driveway and be stopped by a vehicle operated by Hudson.

"Mr. Wesley and (Hudson) got out of the trucks and were standing by the driver's side," Celis said.

He added that Stanley Cole was in the passenger side of the Cole vehicle.

A conversation ensued that lasted for a few minutes, according to Celis.

"After that, Mr. Wesley got in his truck and moved it to the side of the road.
"Then (Hudson) got in his truck and pulled out a large gun.

"I saw (Hudson) discharge the weapon, when that happened I ran," the farm worker said through his interpreter.

Celis testified that while he was fleeing the scene he heard more shots.
"I heard Mr. Wesley ask, 'Why are you shooting me?'"

Jennifer Reagan, a neighbor who lived in a home directly across from the Virgie Cole Road residence of Stanley Cole, testified during the hearing she was returning home from work at the time.

"I saw Hudson leaning against his truck.

"He was leaning against his truck with his gun propped up," she said.

"Then I went to my mailbox and heard gunshots," she added.

Wesley Cole then began to run, but tripped and fell in a ditch. Hudson shot him in the back of the head.

According to Greenbacker, after shooting the two men, Hudson then drove to Wesley Cole's house next door and found his wife, Patsy, in the family garden.

Reagan testified that Patsy Cole asked Hudson if he was target practicing and he opened fire.

Hudson then went to his home, changed vehicles and drove off, passing responding law enforcement on the way out of Virgie Cole Road.

He was captured following a 23-hour manhunt.

Officers recovered a Browning automatic shotgun, several loose shells and a box of shells, along with a .38 cal. revolver, speed loader and box of ammunition at the arrest scene.

"If anyone deserves the death penalty, it's Hudson," Greenbacker said yesterday. "These were good people and their brutal murders were just senseless."

Stanley's wife Linda said yesterday that she hoped Hudson's execution will offer her family some closure.

"Maybe then, it will finally be over," she said.

Deputy Rescues Woman From Burning Vehicle
‘I Was Just At The Right Place At The Right Time.’ Deputy Sheriff P. C. Clayton

It was about 9 p.m. Monday night and Deputy Sheriff P. C. Clayton had just completed a call on Mt. Carmel Road and was heading back when he spotted a car in flames.

"It was sitting completely off the road on the other side of the ditch," recalled Clayton.

As he approached the car Deputy Clayton said he had no idea what to expect.

"Had someone experienced mechanical problems and gone for help ....?

"But when I got to the door I saw a lady in the front seat," he said.

"I yelled at her, 'Ma'am, get out, the car is on fire,' but she didn't really acknowledge me," said Clayton.

The car was filled with smoke when Clayton grabbed 64-year-old Joanne C.
Noe by her wrists to try to get her up. He tried again and failed.

"Then I grabbed her and pulled her to the edge of the car and was able to get her out and to the edge of the ditch," said the deputy.

Within minutes, the 1997 Saturn was completely engulfed in flames.
Both Noe and Clayton were transported to Halifax Regional Hospital, according the deputy.

Clayton's supervisor sent him to the hospital due to smoke inhalation, but the deputy was back on call yesterday.

"It wasn't a big deal," said Clayton of the rescue. "Any police officer or citizen would have done the same."

But for Noe, Clayton's presence was a lifesaver.

State Trooper S.M. Krantz charged the North Carolina woman with DUI following the crash.

The Saturn ran off of the road and hit the embankment, according to police reports. The fire is believed to have originated in the back seat of the car.cutline

Deputy Sheriff P.C. Clayton saved the life of a North Carolina woman when he pulled her from this burning car Monday night. Here, Clayton inspects what is left of the 1997 Saturn.

Biodiesel: Food For The Tank
Fryer Oil Provides Renewable Fuel Source For County Man

BY NICHOLAS ELMES
G-V Staff Writer

Used deep fat fryer oil, which is usually discarded, has been put to a new use by one Halifax County man concerned with the world’s environment and the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Ross Horner, a science teacher at Pittsylvania County’s Dan River High School, has been converting soiled grease into a clean and cheap fuel alternative for any diesel engine. It’s called biodiesel.

“As a general rule (compared to the traditional diesel fuel) straight biodiesel will reduce pollutants across the board by 75 percent,” said Horner.

“Sulfur is all but eliminated and carbon dioxide is completely eliminated because any that comes out of the tailpipe is taken back in by the plants that create the vegetable oil in the first place. So the net production is zero.

“You can’t beat it,” he added. “Nitrogen oxide is the only chemical pollutant that can be raised a little bit, but when you look at all the other things, it’s kind of hard to argue too much.

“Some people joke around and say they can drink the fuel because it is so environmentally safe. It has about the same toxicity as table salt.”

Horner said that while he gets the vegetable oil free from local restaurants that would normally have to pay to have it disposed, it could just as easily be produced from any number of area crops.

“This is something that could be an alternative for the area’s tobacco farmers,” he said. “As time goes by people are slowly getting out of tobacco. I don’t see why it’s not a great idea for a lot of farmers to convert to an oil producing crop and have a plant in the area to make biodiesel.”

“It sure would be nice to have a domestic fuel product that doesn’t come out of the ground and that you can re-grow every year,” he added. “It could even help create jobs.”

A group of North Carolina soy farmers have already implemented a similar plan.

“The soy farmers down there make it and sell a biodiesel/diesel blend at the pump for the same price as regular diesel,” said Horner.

He started making the fuel as a demonstration for his environmental science students.

“I started mainly to teach kids there are alternatives for everything you do,” he said. “I made a small batch of it in class using a regular kitchen blender.”

Horner wanted to show his students that the fuel could power a car as easily as regular diesel, so he bought a $400 used car.

“I told the kids, ‘You think there is only one choice, but there are others and here is one you can make.’ We made it right here in class, so we put it in the car and it ran.”

Unfortunately, only a small amount of fuel could be made in a blender at a time, so Horner started experimenting with ways to make larger batches.
“I got some five-gallon buckets and just took a hand paint mixer with a drill and did it that way,” he said.

But since it takes about a week to make a batch, it still took some time to make enough to fill a tank.

So this spring Horner graduated to a 55-gallon setup in his garage.

“The larger batches (take) the same amount of time because it is just a matter of proportions,” he said.

And those proportions are pretty easy to come by, according to Horner.
In addition to vegetable oil the only other ingredients needed to make biodiesel are methanol and lye.

Horner buys the methanol, a racing fuel also called wood alcohol, at a racetrack in North Carolina, and says the lye, also called sodium hydroxide, is the main ingredient in most drain cleaners.

“You can get it at any grocery store,” he said.

Horner said that with such easy to find ingredients he can make a fuel that costs only 60 to 70 cents per gallon.

And the process is pretty simple.

“You just put the vegetable oil in the mixer and let it settle for a day or two to get out any chunks of food or excess water,” he said.

In a separate bucket Horner combines the methanol to make a methoxide solution.

“It takes a little while to dissolve, it’s not like dissolving sugar in water,” he said. “It is an exothermic reaction, and makes a lot of heat. But as long as care is taken in choosing a proper container and making sure the proportions are correct, it is a safe process.

“You take the methoxide mixture and pour it into the mixing tank and you are ready to go,” continued Horner. “You mix it for an hour and then let it settle for about a day.”

The result is a clean, renewable fuel and glycerine, the main ingredient used to make soap.

And the fuel is actually better for diesel engines than the petroleum-based alternative.

“It actually makes diesel engines run a little smoother because it is an oil, so you are actually using a lubricant for fuel,” said Horner. “And it is an incredible cleansing agent so it will remove a lot of build-ups left by regular diesel.
“So you look at it and ask, ‘Why haven’t we been using this all along.’”

One major reason is a distrust of alternative fuels, according to Horner.
“When you say I am going to run a car off of vegetable oil, people get a little freaked out,” he said. “But the more you educate, the less fear there is.”

And there really isn’t a reason to fear the idea since that is, after all, what diesel engines were designed to run on, according to Horner.

“Rudolph Diesel originally made the engine to run on peanut oil,” he said. “Even in 1908 he was saying one day we will not be able to run everything off of this fuel coming out of the ground.

“After he died the people who make gasoline had all of this by-product and said ‘Hey, a diesel engine will run off of it, lets call it diesel fuel.’”

Even though biodiesel is relatively easy and cheap to make, Horner said since it is flammable people should research the process before trying to make their own at home.

“If you have a scientific mind and do some research, you should be able to make it yourself,” he said. “As long as you follow the directions carefully, use all the safety precautions and get the right equipment to measure the ingredients you should be fine.”

Horner recommends reading ‘From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank,’ by Joshua Tickell and visiting http://www.journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html.

A Brother Act
Jeff Stevens Following In Brother Greg’s Baseball Footsteps

BY DOUG FORD
G-V STAFF WRITER

It pays to take advantage of one's opportunities, and baseball is no exception to that rule.

Former Halifax County resident and recent University of Pittsburgh baseball signee Jeff Stevens is taking advantage of natural talent and positive attitude to advance toward his goal of playing professional baseball.

Helping Jeff along the way has been older brother Greg, who has taken advantage of a never-say-die attitude to play professional baseball, as a member of the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League.

Jeff and Greg Stevens spent much of their youth in Vernon Hill before moving to Pittsylvania County before the time Jeff started eighth grade.

Before then, it was a case of little brother learning from big brother, in this case the catcher's position.

"I learned the position while catching for my older brother in batting practice," recalled Jeff.

"That's how I learned the basics. I was somewhat a bigger kid when I was younger, so they put me behind the plate."

Jeff Stevens was an all-star on at least two occasions while playing Dixie Baseball in Halifax County, first as a member of the Halifax Dixie Youth Major League all-star team.

He later played with the South Boston 14-Year-Old Dixie Boys all-star team which took home a state title in 1998.

"I played Halifax Dixie Youth baseball," said Stevens.

"We were actually driving by the field on the way to a Fourth of July party, and I told my dad, that's probably the most fun I've ever had.

"It was a great experience with good people, and that's what got me into it."

Halifax County's loss was Pittsylvania County's gain when Stevens moved his eighth grade year, eventually making the all-state team as a senior catcher at Dan River High School.

Stevens was recruited by the University of Florida out of high school, but wasn't promised immediate playing time.

"They said I wouldn't play the first couple of years, and probably play my sophomore or junior year," said Stevens. "They said it was best to go to a junior college. That way, I'd step right in and play.

Stevens' community college experience (Lake City) didn't work out the way Stevens had hoped, but Stevens rebounded after transferring to Louisburg College for the 2004 season.

Louisburg has produced 12 Major League Baseball players, including Otis Nixon, Greg Briley and Chad Fonville.

"I had a very good year at Louisburg, caught most of the games, and played first base here and there," said Stevens, who batted .270 with nine home runs and 36 RBI's.

Stevens matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh after the Panthers coaching staff contacted Louisburg.

"They called my coach at Louisburg and asked it they had a catcher," recalled Stevens. They sent someone down to see me play and they really liked me.

"Coastal Carolina, Radford and Liberty also talked to me, but I chose Pitt.
"They got me up to Pittsburgh for a visit and offered me a 60 percent scholarship."

Pittsburgh, a member of the Big East Conference, is an up and coming baseball program, according to Stevens.

"They hired a new coach about five years ago, and he's turned the program around."

Jeff Stevens has looked to the career of his older brother, Greg, as well as other big league catchers as examples of how the rewards of hard work and perseverance have paid off.

Greg Stevens, primarily a catcher like brother Jeff, played at Division III Averett University, where he played a little third base as well.

He attended a Frontier League tryout camp last May in Washington, Pa., and was drafted by league member Chillicothe, who released him.

Evansville (Indiana) and Richmond (Indiana) were other teams which showed early interest, but Stevens did not work out for either of them.

Stevens reportedly drove over 4,000 miles in two weeks before hooking up with Gateway for the 2004 season, where his bat and play at third base have kept him in the lineup.

He had a .278 batting average for the Grizzlies before the All-Star break this season, with 11 home runs, 36 RBI's and 34 runs scored.

That has served as an example for the younger Stevens.

"He's second in the league in homers and RBI's right now," said Stevens.

He's one of the hardest working guys I've ever seen," he added, with a conditioning regimen that includes running, lifting weights and throwing.

"I've been doing plyometrics and running four times a week and lifting weights four or five times a week, as well as hit and throw," Jeff Stevens said.

The catching position has undergone somewhat of a metamorphosis since the 1970's, especially in the demands of the position, as well as from a baseball fan's perspective.

It was considered primarily a defensive position, despite home run hitting catchers such as Josh Gibson.

Players like Gibson and Johnny Bench revolutionized it as more of an offensive position, according to Stevens.

"I remembered talking to a couple of people who said all I needed was to be a good catch and throw guy, to be able to receive pitches and throw guys out," said Stevens.

"But there's more to catching than meets the eye. You serve as the quarterback for the team, and you control the game.

"You can make a pitcher look really good or really bad. It's all about how you call the game, and if you have a bad game, the pitcher will have a bad game.

"It's one of the tougher positions," said Stevens, adding he looks to Major League all-star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez as a role model in addition to his brother.

"Pudge has always been the guy I looked up to, also [Mike] Metheny of the Cardinals," said Stevens.

Obituaries

James Edward Coleman

James Edward Coleman, 83, of 4000 Allen Mill Rd., Scottsburg, died August 14 at the J.F.K. Medical Center in Edison, N.J.

Mr. Coleman was born in Halifax County on October 22, 1920, the son of the late James Coleman and Amanda Green Coleman. He was a member of the Spanish Grove Baptist Church and was a WW II Army veteran.

His survivors include his wife: Bettie Mosley Coleman; daughter: Barbara Coleman of Lynchburg; three sons: Leslie Coleman of Scottsburg, Frederick Coleman of Clinton and Rev. William Coleman of Evington; sister: Priscilla Morton of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; brother: Major Coleman of Scottsburg; 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, 3 step-grandchildren, and six step-great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held Fri., Aug. 20, at 11 a.m., at the Spanish Grove Baptist Church, with the Rev. Ronnie Womack officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery with military rites by the American Legion Post 99.
The family will receive friends at the home of the deceased.

Luevornia Coleman

Ms. Luevornia Coleman, sister of Mrs. Alma Somerville of South Boston, died Thursday, August 12, at Katy Reynolds Hospice House in Winston-Salem, N.C. Funeral services for Luevornia Coleman will be held Thursday, August 19, at 1 p.m. at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. Burial will take place Friday in Newton, N.C

Elaine Womack Lee

Elaine Womack Lee, 74, of South Boston died August 14 at the Woodview Nursing Home.

Mrs. Lee was born in Halifax County on April 16, 1930, the daughter of the late Elsie Womack Farmer and stepdaughter of the late Willie Farmer. She was married to the late Louis Lee and was a member of Deliverance Tabernacle Church.

Her survivors include three sisters: Bessie Ford and Margaret Safewright of South Boston and Gloria Johnson of Sutherlin; and an aunt, Viola Womack Torian of South Boston.

A funeral service will be held today, August 18, at 1 p.m., at the Crawford House Chapel in Halifax with Bishop Larry Burrell officiating. Burial will follow in Murphy’s Grove Baptist Church cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the Crawford House on Wednesday from 12-1 p.m. and at other times at the residence of Bessie Ford, 213 Fairmont Apts., South Boston.

Kelly Madison

Mr. Kelly Madison, brother of Mrs. Essie J. Richardson and Ms. Conyers Weston, both of South Boston, died Friday, August 13 in Miami, Fl., at the age of 68.

Funeral arrangements for Mr. Kelly Madison are incomplete and will be announced at a later date.

Andra Dwayne Venable

Andra Dwayne Venable, 45, of 1049 Billy’s Lane, Halifax, died August 15 at his residence.

Mr. Venable was born in Washington, D.C., on January 31, 1959, the son of Houston Venable and Sudie Mae Holt Venable. He was a member of New Bethel Baptist Church and employed by J.M. Huber Corporation.

His survivors include his wife: Jacqueline Logan Venable; two daughters: Tina and Pam Sydnor of Richmond; son: Jerry Sydnor of Halifax; his parents; sister: Sherdina Harrison of Washington, D.C.; two brothers: Houston Barry Venable and Tony Andrew Venable of Halifax; two grandchildren; his mother and father-in-law: Mr. and Mrs. John Logan of Halifax. He was preceded in death by a daughter: Michele Sydnor.

A funeral service will be held tomorrow, August 19, at 2 p.m., at New Bethel Baptist Church with the Rev. Ronald Clark officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

The family will receive friends at the Crawford House, Halifax, tonight from 7-8 p.m. and at other times at the home of the deceased.