Soaking rains offered a brief respite from the dought the county has weathered, but falls 42 inches short of ending the dry spell.
"It was wonderful," "Biggy" Hunt said yesterday.
Hunt, who lives in the eastern part of the county, said his rain gauge showed the area had received about six inches of rainfall in the past week.
"Most of it was absorbed into the ground," Hunt pointed out. "The ground was so dry, it just soaked up the moisture.
"But it did raise the level in my pond by about two feet," he added.
A resident in the Clays Mill/Bethel area of the county reported getting five inches last week, with four inches dumped over the area in a period of one day.
William Perry, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, said the rainfall was helpful, but did little to remedy the drought situation plaguing Southside.
"It's putting a small dent in the drought, but to end the drought we would need a deluge over an extended period of time.
"The hydrologist was telling me that we would need 42 inches of rainfall in a six-month period of time to end the drought," Perry said.
Bruce Pearce of the Halifax Soil and Water Conservation office agreed.
"This is refreshing, but it in no way ends the drought.
"We haven't had the widespread rainfall that we need to soak the county," he said.
"Call me in three years," he added.
Halifax County is listed by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration as being under 'exceptional' drought conditions.
But Perry said the rainfall would have some benefits.
"In the short-term, it will help grass grow and relieve some of the crop problems, but based on the drought statement, the long-term doesn't look too favorable," the meteorologist said.
Perry said NOAA's seasonal outlook indicates Southside Virginia will stay under drought conditions at least through November.
"The good thing is right now the tropical areas are starting to move a little bit," he said. "They could conceivably move up the coast slowly and give the area some relief."
Perry said according to the NWS , northern Halifax County received 3.45 inches of rain, with 2.5 inches falling in just two days, and South Boston received .88 inches of rain.
But no one is complaining, especially the farmers.
"It was a multi-million dollar rain," former Halifax County extension agent Larry McPeters said yesterday. "It will do wonders for the crops from this day forward."
McPeters reported that the Scottsburg community had received 4.5 inches since last Sunday.
"As far as the tobacco plants go, depending on the maturity of the leaf, this rain could make the crop," the former extension agent said.
Tobacco was so dry, McPeters said farmers should wait for the rainfall to take effect before pulling the crop.
"You can't cure tobacco with no sap in it," he pointed out. "I'm afraid that for the next week or so the leaf won't be pretty.
"It's a matter of waiting and holding a little while before you pull.
"This is a year that gives you a reason to have crop insurance," McPeters observed.
He offered come advice for farmers with crops in jeopardy.
"We are having a significant number of hornworm on the crop, a good hint is for farmers to put insecticides in with their succor control spray," he said. "You can't do it will all of them, but if it's the right kind, it can save the farmers some spraying time.
"Another hint is for people to watch how they top the plants," he added. "You can't top tobacco too high in a dry year because it can cause a loss due to frost."
McPeters said the dry weather could cause a problem to the hay crop.
"Pastures and crops have suffered the last three years," he said. "During a dry season you get drying and weakening of the stand and the crop can't compete with the weeds.
"Pastures this year have been overgrazed because the animals have nothing else to eat," he noted.
A lot of the stands of hay will need to be re-seeded, according to McPeters.
"Now is the time to re-seed the pastures.
"If they re-seed, we have a chance to recover a new crop of hay for the winter months," he added.
But McPeters warns producers that they will need to fertilize the fields.
"They won't get a fall cutting unless they fertilize," he said.
More rainfall will be needed as well.
"We will need continued rains to make a hay crop, but this is a good start,' McPeters said.
But all in all, the rain has been a blessing for everyone concerned.
"It's going to make some people happy and put a little money in their pockets," McPeters observed.

An oil spill in the 1100 block of Wilborn Avenue may have been intentional, according to South Boston police.
"We found a place where we think someone was dumping heating oil down a public drain line," Capt. Jim Binner said yesterday.
The captain said investigators believe the spill occurred Wednesday.
The oil was Number 2 fuel oil, according to Chief William Murray of the South Boston Fire Department.
The incident occurred across the road from Hardee's, Binner added.
"There are drains behind houses that empty into a creek behind Cary's Electronics," he said.
Murray said two underflow dikes along waterways, one at Watkins Ave. and the other off of Railroad Avenue, were put in place yesterday morning.
Following discovery of the spill, authorities called the Department of Environmental Quality, who are investigating.
"They've looked at it and are supposed to send people down here to clean it up," Murray said.
Clean-up could involve taking soil samples to determine the extent of the contamination.
"No one was home at the residence, but you could see evidence that someone had been pouring oil down the drain," Officer C. Carswell said. "It was all over the grass."
Authorities have yet to determine the amount of oil poured down the drain.
"We don't know whether it was five, 25 or 50 gallons," Murray commented. "We don't have any idea. I wish we did know."
"The quantity of oil is a big issue," he said. "If it is under 50 gallons, it isn't a reportable quantity, but if it goes over 50 gallons, it has to be reported to the DEQ and the Department of Emergency Management."
Because no estimate is available on the amount of oil spilled, no damage assessment was available.
"Since we don't know how much (oil) was lost, we don't know what it will cost to clean it up," Murray said.
The chief added that the spill could possibly become serious.
"If the spill is contained, that's one thing," he said. "But if it goes to a waterway, it becomes a serious problem."
The chief said investigators knew the spill had traveled from the site of the dumping.
"We know it went at least a half-mile down the creek," he said. "If it went that far, it probably went farther."
Anyone with information about this or any other crime are asked to call Crimestoppers at 575-TIPS.

Amy Ashley Lipscomb had said all along that she loved her husband, but that she had no other choice but to defend herself when he came at her with a bayonet during a domestic dispute last January.
A jury in Halifax County Circuit Court agreed that she had no choice on Wednesday, finding Lipscomb not guilty of murder in the stabbing death of her husband, Clarence Lipscomb.
The jury's verdict was confirmed by Judge Leslie M. Osborn.
The 25-year-old defendant testified that she and Clarence "argued a whole lot," even before the couple moved to Virginia from North Carolina in February, 2001.
"He didn't want me to go anywhere...I was afraid of him," Lipscomb testified.
"He was different when he drank."
The defendant testified that the couple had been socializing with several others at their home on Huell Matthews Highway when they began arguing.
Lipscomb said she resisted her husband's attempts at pushing her into a bedroom, and fled their residence to another house, said to be unoccupied at the time.
"I didn't want us fighting in front of the kids," Lipscomb said.
Lipscomb told the court that her husband caught up to her at one point, striking her in the head, before she pulled away again and ran up the steps of the unoccupied house to an enclosed porch.
"I saw then he had a knife in his hand," Lipscomb testified.
"I ran up the steps into the porch, he came after me, and dropped the knife," she said.
Lipscomb continued by testifying she picked the knife up, but that her husband kept coming at her.
"I stabbed him and ran back home. I was trapped on the porch with no way out...I didn't mean to kill my husband," Lipscomb said.
J. Patterson Rogers III, Lipscomb's attorney, told the jury that this was not a case of who, when or what, but why.
Rogers presented evidence that indicated the Lipscomb's three-year marriage was "turbulent at best."
The defendant's mother, father and cousin all testified that they had witnessed Clarence Lipscomb physically abuse his wife on several occasions.
"It was like night and day," the defendant's mother testified.
"I got along with him as long as he wasn't drinking. When he was drinking, he was violent," she testified.
Amy Lipscomb's father testified that "at times, he got along with Clarence.
"When he drank, he got mean. He was a good man when he was sober."
Commonwealth's Attorney John Greenbacker pointed to certain elements at the crime scene as evidence something different had occurred.
The prosecutor presented evidence that indicated the victim had died while holding a cigarette, and he showed the jury crime scene photos showing beer cans on the porch.
"The deceased was obviously smoking at the time he died," said Greenbacker. "There are no other marks on his body other than the chest wound," he added.
Greenbacker refuted the defendant's testimony that Clarence Lipscomb was wielding the knife while pursuing her.
A prosecution witness who had been with Clarence Lipscomb shortly before the incident testified that, although he had seen Lipscomb sharpening a knife earlier, he could not tell if he was carrying a knife when he last saw him.
"If a man is chasing her with a knife, would he be chasing after her with a cigarette at the same time?" Greenbacker asked the jury.
"You know what happened?" Greenbacker continued. "The couple (Clarence and Amy Lipscomb) were on the porch, and at a time he wasn't looking, she put a knife in his heart.
"Don't you think that he would have put his hands up to deflect a knife rather than ball his fists up and come at her, as the defense suggests?" Greenbacker asked.
Rogers asked the jury to put themselves in the defendant's place that night and determine what options she had.
"She had suffered abuse, been punched, slapped, kicked..." said Rogers.
"It started again that night and it escalated."
Rogers suggested that when Clarence Lipscomb pulled the knife on his wife, "the line had been crossed."
"What the commonwealth suggests, that the couple went to the porch and sat down, is patently ridiculous," said Rogers.
"We know the reason they were there is that Clarence was pursuing her.
"We know he had the knife, know he hit her. The only thing Amy could know was that if he had the knife, was drunk and violent, all she could do was what she did."

Christine Lynn Schirmer, 34, of Wolf Trap Road in South Boston was released on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond following her arrest on federal firearms charges Wednesday morning.
During the bond hearing yesterday, Judge Glen Conrad of the federal court in Roanoke indicted Schirmer on one count of purchasing a firearm for a convicted felon.
Schirmer's next appearance date has not been set, according to Andrew Bassford of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke, who will be prosecuting the case.
Shirmer was arrested on federal warrants Wednesday and charged with purchasing a firearm for a convicted felon and falsifying records to obtain a firearm.
According to Maj. R.S.B. Pulliam of the Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotic Enforcement Task Force, the alleged offense occurred in South Boston in 1997.
The 9 a.m. arrest occurred without incident, Pulliam said.
Members of the task force were assisted by members of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in making the arrest.
Shirmer was transported to Roanoke where she appeared before a federal magistrate Wednesday.
Shirmer is currently the field editor of the Farm Chronicle and former newspaper reporter in South Boston and Clinton, N.C.

Former South Boston resident Frederick Kent "Kenny" Bowes, III, was arrested Wednesday night by agents of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Drug Task Force and charged with multiple felony drug charges.
He was being held in the Pittsylvania County Jail yesterday without bond.
The 22-year-old Danville resident, a regular competitor in the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car division at South Boston Speedway, had been indicted by a Pittsylvania County grand jury on drug charges stemming from illegal drug sales in Pittsylvania County.
Indictments charge Bowes with one count of selling cocaine and four counts of the sale of cocaine as a second or subsequent offense.
In addition, the indictment against Bowes charges him with the sale of Oxycontin.
All six of the charges are felony charges.
Maj. Gary W. Goodson Jr., Chief Deputy of the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Department, said yesterday the arrest of Bowes was the result of an 18-month investigation conducted by the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Drug Task Force which is investigating drug trafficking in the Danville-Pittsylvania County area.
The Task Force is comprised of officers from the Danville Police Department, Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office and Virginia State Police.
Agents of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control are assisting in the investigation.
Goodson said additional arrests are forthcoming.
Bowes is in his second full season of racing in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Late Model Stock Car division at South Boston Speedway.
The Danville driver stands ninth in the track's Late Model Stock Car division points standings.

Sanford Junior Lester

Sanford Junior Lester, 66, of 2021 Crawford Road, Halifax, died August 23 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Lester was born in Halifax County on July 30, 1936, the son of the late James Sanford Lester and Elizza Jane Boxley Lester and was married to Virginia Mae Irby Lester. He was a member of First Baptist Church of Virgilina.
Survivors include his wife; one son, Phillip Wesley Sanford of South Boston; one goddaughter, Sugralia J. Ferrell of South Boston; and his step-grandmother, Flora Lester of South Boston.
Funeral services for Mr. Lester will be held tomorrow, August 31, at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Virgilina with the Rev. James Whitt Lester officiating. Burial will follow in Union Grove CME Church Cemetery.
The family is receiving friends at Jeffress Funeral Home this evening from 7:00 until 8:00, and also at the home.

Martha Terry Rowland

Martha Terry Rowland, 86, of Nathalie died August 28 at Berry Hill Nursing Home.
Mrs. Rowland was born in Halifax County on November 23, 1916, the daughter of Sam Hubbard Terry and Ava Millner Terry and was married to Jack William Rowland. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Republican Grove.
Survivors include one son and daughter-in-law, Marshall H. and Evelyn H. Rowland of Nathalie; two sisters, Elizabeth Honnicutt of Danville and Ava Martin of Lynchburg; one daughter-in-law, Virginia Rowland of Halifax; 13 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Coretta Terry of Brookneal and Blanche Saunders of South Boston. Mrs. Rowland was preceded in death by one daughter, Marion Powell, and two sons, Gordon Rowland and Jack Rowland.
Services for Mrs. Rowland will be held today, August 30, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Republican Grove with the Revs. Shelton Miles and Coy Terry officiating. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.
Those wishing to give memorials are asked to consider North Halifax Volunteer Fire Department.

John Thomas Owen Jr.

John Thomas Owen Jr., 68, of 3235 James D. Hagood Highway, Halifax, died August 28 at Halifax Regional Hospital.
Mr. Owen was born in Halifax County on January 28, 1934, the son of John Thomas Owen Sr. and Jennie Canada Owen and was married to Lanier Guill Owen. He was of the Baptist faith.
Survivors include his wife; one daughter, Jonci Owen Berneche and husband, Ben of Scottsburg; one granddaughter, Alaina Grace Berneche of Scottsburg; two brothers, Clyde H. Owen of Scottsburg and Earl D. Owen of Halifax; three sisters, Rosa O. Powell of South Boston, Ruby O. Watts of Harrisburg, NC and Jeanette O. Ligon of Scottsburg.
Services for Mr. Owen will be held August 31 at 11 a.m. at Powell Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jack Stewart conducting the service. Burial will take place in Oak Ridge Cemetery.
The family will receive friends at Powell Funeral Home this evening from 7:00 until 8:30, and other times at his home.