Dreams became reality yesterday at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Southern Virginia Higher Education Center, formerly the CEC.
After more than a year of transformation, the former Export Leaf Tobacco building in downtown South Boston is expected in turn to transform and heighten educational opportunities for Southside residents.
August 19, 2001 is a new day dawning for Halifax County and this entire region," said Dr. Patricia P. Cormier, president of Longwood College and Halifax Educational Foundation (HEF) Board member.
"Today is the fulfillment of dreams that have become a reality in this magnificent new facility.
"In honor of this occasion, we have made the decision - our consortium group and the HEF - that a new name indeed was important to bring a beacon of light to people in Southern Virginia about this special place."
Dr. . Carlyle Ramsey, president of Danville Community College and Dr. John J. Cavan, president of Southside Virginia Community College assisted with the unveiling of the new name.
Halifax Educational Foundation chairman Chris Lumsden praised the grass-roots effort, both private and governmental, in making the CEC a reality.
"I would like to again express our appreciation to the residents of Halifax County who overwhelmingly approved the bond referendum in November 1998, and to the individuals and businesses who have given close to $2 million in private contributions," said Lumsden.
"This grass-roots effort, which has drawn both state and national publicity coupled with the financial support of a number of governmental agencies, has now made the dream of having a modern, state-of-the-art higher education center here in Halifax County a reality."
South Boston Mayor and HEF board member Glen Abernathy, on behalf of town council, mentioned the vision, dedication, devotion, hard work and sacrifice of all of the community necessary for the center.
"I am joined by my fellow members of town council, our staff and administration in congratulating you on the opening of this facility and the completion of this phase of the project, and to remind all of you to never stop dreaming," said Abernathy.
Those sentiments were echoed by Joe C. Satterfield Jr., HEF board member and chairman of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors.
"This project is proof of what can happen when everyone works together for a common goal, a project that is a dream come true for all of us," said Satterfield.
In his opening remarks, Delegate W. W. "Ted" Bennett made reference to the opening of the center as a landmark date in the history of the area.
"Welcome to what we believe will be viewed 100 years from now as perhaps the seminal event in this community's, perhaps this entire immediate region's, history.
"Today we celebrate the opening of the first building on the first permanent campus of the CEC of this region in downtown South Boston.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world," said Bennett in quoting noted anthropologist Margaret Mead.
Bennett praised the long years of work by a "determined if relatively small initial group of local citizen visionaries, whose dream and vision was embraced and brought to fruition, assisted by this entire community and this community's friends and allies."
In particular, Bennett mentioned the work of HEF Chairman Lumsden and Dr. Cormier in bringing the center to fruition.
Bennett said that without Lumsden's leadership we could literally not be here today.
"He worked hours and hours of volunteer time over the past four and five years - he's been in the pits and he's been up on the peaks - today I hope is one of those peaks."
"Dr. Cormier extended her heart and soul out to us from the day she became president of Longwood College.
"She clearly, with her leadership, kept this project alive, kept the potential for this facility out there before us...with her grit and determination we knew that we still had a friend and we still were going to have a significant campus."
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, an overflow crowd toured the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center and saw what dreams are made of.

There will be a change in School Board representation from Election District -3.
Incumbent Wanda McDowell said yesterday that she will not seek re-election to the School Board, but Arthur Reynolds, who lives near McDowell in ED-3, said that he will seek the seat.
"I've enjoyed the opportunity to work for the school system and my community, and I hope that I have contributed to improving it in some small way," McDowell said Sunday.
At least one potential challenger to incumbent Supervisor Page Wilkerson in ED-6 has picked up his paperwork at the registrars office, but he could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Incumbent School Board member Mac McDowell is seeking re-election in ED-6.
Last week the Republican Party officially certified Bob Gluhareff, who is seeking the ED-3 seat of retiring supervisor Joe Satterfield, and incumbent supervisor Page Wilkerson.
Two independents have already qualified in the ED-3 race. They are Virginia Hightower and William Fitzgerald.
In other races, incumbent Supervisor Tom West is seeking re-election in ED-2.
West, a tobacco and grain producer at his Stoney Ridge Farm, chairs the supervisors' Agricultural Development Committee, the Finance Committee and Public Works and Environmental Services.
"I am interested in education," West said. "I think it is so important with the closing of industry. I am concerned about jobs, very much so.
"And I am also concerned about the preservation of open spaces and conservation ...about the future of agriculture in Halifax County," added West.
"I want to thank the people for letting me serve as their supervisor the last eight years. I appreciate their support and would like to serve them the next four," he said in announcing his re-election bid.
West is a graduate of North Carolina State.
Incumbent School Board representative Steve Anderson previously announced that he is seeking re-election in ED-2.

A presentation of the conceptual master plan for the Paul C. Edmunds Jr. Memorial Park will be unveiled to the public Tuesday night at special meeting of the Halifax County Recreation Committee.
The meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the public meeting room on the second floor of the Mary M. Bethune Complex in Halifax.
Representatives from the Virginia Tech Community Design Assistance Center will display a model and drawings for the park depicting the locations of varied recreational uses and amenities.
The master plan was developed over the last four months by the design team and the Joint Recreation Committee of the Town of South Boston and Halifax County.
Located off Dan River Church Road and James Hagood Highway (Route 360) in the Five Forks area of South Boston, the 100 acre site was donated by James E. Edmunds II to the county for recreational and historical purposes.
As a former dairy farm, plans are to incorporate a huge silo into a Visitor's Center, while using a tobacco stick barn to represent the area's tobacco heritage.
A peach orchard is also part of the agricultural heritage that the park will emphasize.
Other amenities include a pavilion, picnic shelters and open areas for football and soccer games, as well as tennis and basketball courts.
On the aesthetic side, the plan calls for a pond and trails for walking and bicycling, which will circle the perimeter of the park.
Groups, such as the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited and Quail Unlimited will have access to adopt certain areas for maintaining.
The public is encouraged to attend the unveiling of the master plan.

Supervisors are expected to discuss cooperative motor vehicle license decal enforcement among police agencies and hear an E-911 Board report exploring funding for its new center during their joint meeting with South Boston and Halifax town councils Monday night.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the conference room at the Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
Currently, town and county law enforcement agencies only enforce their own decal requirements. However, a mutual enforcement agreement is expected to be discussed, one that would allow police officials - including Virginia State Police - to enforce other local jurisdiction's decal requirements.
The joint session will also hear MAAR's interim report on its historical architectural survey of the county.
MAAR has completed the reconnaissance phase of the survey, which included about 200 subjects.
During that survey the structure's name - if any, ownership, location and brief overview are detailed, according to Jerry Lovelace, assistant Halifax County Administrator.
During the intensive survey, which is currently in progress, 20 to 25 structures are investigated.
In addition to information recorded in a reconnaissance survey, photographs are taken of the structure's interior and exterior, architectural detail is recorded and the structure's history detailed.
The historical survey may be used as an appendix document to the county's comprehensive plan, according to Lovelace.
"When any kind of development project is proposed, it can be used as part of our community review process to make sure new development will not destroy or damage historical resources in the county. That is the key use," he added.
He said that the survey can also be used as an information document by those exploring state or federal historic registration for a structure or by those doing genealogical research.
The survey was initiated as a joint county and Virginia Department of Historic Resources venture.
Shirley Chandler, who presented a petition at supervisors' last session opposing the current green box site near the Project Hope building on Mountain Road, is listed on tonight's agenda.
She will address recycling sites. The county is exploring the establishment of a number of fenced recycling sites with specific operating hours as part of its recycling and landfill program.
Supervisors and councilmen will also hear a report on the new aerial ladder fire truck purchase and its stationing.

Halifax County didn't post any big numbers or run rampant over Prince Edward County and Nottoway County in Friday's scrimmage.
The Comets played well at times, though, well enough for head coach James Hodges to call the scrimmage a success.
"I was pretty pleased," Hodges said.
"We found the things that we needed to know quickly. We learned a lot about some of the kids."
Halifax County's running game appeared to be in good shape as did the defense.
The biggest question mark appears to be in the defensive secondary where the Comets will have players with little experience.
Nottoway stung the Comets twice on big pass plays, once for a touchdown.
"We've still got to find out who's going to be playing back there," Hodges said.
"We've got a new defensive backs coach (former GW standout Al Covington) and we're searching for some players back there. We're young at that spot."
Halifax opened the scrimmage at Prince Edward County High School in Farmville with its first string outscoring the Eagles' first team one touchdown to zero.
In the next segment, the Comets' first team sputtered on offense and was outscored one touchdown to zero by the Nottoway County Cougars.
Later, in the Comets' final action of the night, Halifax County's second team outscored Prince Edward County's second team one touchdown to zero.
Although the Comets participated in only three sessions of 10 to 12 plays each, and played approximately an hour, Hodges saw what he needed to see as his team heads into its final days of preparation for Friday night's season opening road game against Dan River High School.
"It was enough to see some things, the things we needed to see and not come away with any major injuries."
For the night, Halifax County compiled 174 yards of offense, 155 yards on the ground and 19 yards through the air.
The Comets' opposition came up with a combined total of 180 yards of offense with Prince Edward County tallying 110 yards of offense in its two rounds with the Comets and Nottoway coming up with 70 yards of offense.
Comets tailback Alonzo Coleman had a good night, gaining 49 yards on seven carries and scoring on a three-yard scamper in the first team's opening 10-play round against Prince Edward County.
Coleman also had one pass reception, an 18-yard catch on a throw from quarterback Karl Staten.
Fullback Blake Wilson netted 32 yards in four carries. He had one catch for two yards.
Second team running backs Ricky Petty and Dante Roberts also fared well.
Petty netted a total of 40 yards on six carries and scored a touchdown against Prince Edward County on a 48-yard scamper.
Roberts totaled 50 yards on six carries.
Halifax County's defense did a good job on its opening round against the Prince Edward County first team offense.
The Comets defense created two fumbles and recovered both of them and held Prince Edward to either no gain or a loss on three plays of the 12-play series.
Prince Edward netted a total of 42 yards in the opening series including a 1-3 passing performance for 23 yards.
Halifax County's offense also did a good job, going the 70-yard distance in 11 plays to get a score with Coleman bulling his way into the end zone from the three-yard line.
'I thought we did very well in that series," said Hodges.
"We executed fairly well and took the ball down the field and scored in 11 plays. Defensively we got the ball twice. There's no question in my mind that we could have scored in three or four plays each time if it had been a game situation."
The Comets didn't fare as well against Nottoway's first team defense, tallying only 26 yards of total offense and hitting only two of four pass attempts for 17 yards. Halifax County lost 15 yards on a fumble on one play.
"We moved the ball but we made two mistakes that cost us big yardage," Hodges noted.
"We stumped our own toe. It was careless stuff. We just killed ourselves. But we learned something from it and that's the important thing."
Nottoway went the 70-yard distance in 10 plays to score against the Comets' first team defense, burning the young Comets defensive secondary with a 29-yard pass play for a touchdown on the tenth play of the series.
The Cougars hit two of their four pass attempts against the Comets to log 43 yards and a touchdown through the air. Nottoway's other 27 yards came on the ground.
"Three plays hurt us," Hodges said.
"On one of them, we had the quarterback cornered and allowed him to scramble and gain positive yardage. There were two passing plays, one of which we poorly executed on defense when we had a one-on-one situation with our defensive back on a play we should have stopped and didn't.
"On the touchdown play," he continued, "we pretty much had everybody covered and the (Nottoway) kid did everything but drop the ball. We had them (covered) but we didn't do anything."
Hodges said the second team also peformed pretty well overall.
"They did a pretty good job of executing," he pointed out.
"We scored on one long run with Ricky Petty in there. He's very athletic and he got out on the corner and outran everybody."
With the scrimmage behind them, the Comets will now focus on Friday night's game against Dan River.
"This week will be like a regular game week for us," said Hodges.
"We'll just refine what we've been working on and try to execute it a little better."

Ernest Bryant Satterfield

Ernest Bryant Satterfield of 3103 Mountain Road, Halifax, died August 18, 2001 at Halifax Regional Hospital. He was born in Halifax County, Virginia on August 8, 1938 and was 63 years old.
He was the son of Earnest Earl Satterfield and Kathryn Crenshaw Satterfield. He was a member of Pleasant Grove Christian Church.
Mr. Satterfield is survived by: his mother, Kathryn C. Satterfield, of Halifax; two sisters, Carol Privette, of Halifax; Dale Clark and husband Steve, of Clarksville; three nephews: W. R. Privette III, of Halifax; Ryan and Taylor Clark, of Clarksville; and grand nephew, Jacob Privette, of Halifax; one grand niece, Jessica Privette, of Halifax.
Funeral services for Mr. Satterfield will be held today (Monday) at 11:00 a.m. at Pleasant Grove Christian Church with the Rev. Issac Mooneyham conducting the service. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.

Moses Hairston

Moses Hairston of 250 Barringer Drive, Danville, and formerly of Alton died August 17 at his residence at the age of 51.
Mr. Hairston was born in Danville, on March 28, 1950 and was the son of the late Minnie Lee Hairston Lipscomb and was married to Janice Glenn Hairston. He was employed by Cloverdale Lumber Company.
Mr. Hairston is survived by his wife: Janice G. Hairston, of Danville; two step children: Steven Glenn and Illene Glenn, both of Danville; six sisters: Mary Hairston, Barbara Doomes, Julie Hairston and Juanita Thorpe, all of Alton; Caroline Pointer of Danville; and Sherleene Lawson, of Semora, NC; four brothers: Bonzell Hairston and Tommie Simpson Hairston, both of Alton; Ben Junior Hairston, of Roxboro, NC; and Jerry Dwayne Hairston, of Semora, NC; and his mother-in-law: Jannie Glass, of Danville.
Funeral services for Mr. Hairston will be held Tuesday, at 2:00 p.m. with services at New Bethel Baptist Church with the rev. Harvey Bigelow officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the home of Juanita Glenn, 2304 Robin Hood Drive, Danville and the home of Barbara Doomes, 1149 New Bethel Church Road, Alton.