ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
A lot of moonshine stills are found when there's a nip in the air, when the trees are bare and there's no foliage to hide them.
But there are exceptions to the rule.
On Monday, Franklin County's moonshine task force raided two still sites, one in Ferrum and one in the Fork Mountain community.
At each site they found four, 800-gallon blackpot stills.
The Ferrum still was found first, about 12:30 Monday afternoon. The site was in the woods, about 200 yards from Virginia 602, according to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Jimmy Woods, 44, and Betty Lucille McPherson, 59, both of Ferrum, were arrested at the site with the stills brewing, said Robert Chapman, an ABC spokesman.
Woods and McPherson have been charged with making liquor without a license.
Agents seized 104 gallons of moonshine at the Ferrum site.
About 11 p.m. Monday, the same six agents raided the Fork Mountain site.
John Allen Carter, 25, of Henry and Ricky Wayne Radford, 30, of Ferrum were arrested at the scene and also charged with making liquor without a license, Chapman said.
The men reportedly were unloading propane gas tanks, which are used to fuel burners under the pots of mash.
Propane tanks have replaced wood as the heating method of choice for many moonshiners. The tanks are more efficient and less visible than piles of wood needed to heat stills.
Four gallons of moonshine were seized at the Fork Mountain site, about 100 yards off Virginia 845.
This year, 57 stills have been found in Virginia, Chapman said. Of that total, 54 were in the Roanoke region, which includes Franklin and Pittsylvania counties, where most moonshine busts occur.
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