THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040118
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
LENGTH: Long : 468 lines
IN THE NEWS Plane crash in Suffolk kills three, injuries two
In March, a single-engine plane crashed in a wooded area west of downtown Suffolk, killing the pilot and two of the five passengers. Two other passengers were seriously injured.
The pilot, Emory E. ``Gene'' Bolton of Suffolk, was apparently trying to land at the Suffolk Municipal Airport, about five miles to the east. He and the passengers, a group of friends from the Gloucester area, were returning from car races in Georgia.
In June, the City Council renamed the entrance to the Suffolk Municipal Airport for Bolton, an airport commissioner.
A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board said in late December that the board had not released the cause of the accident. That determination could take up to a year, she said.
- Susie Stoughton Peanut program faces an uncertain future
Peanut farmers claimed they would be ``working for peanuts'' if the government's price support dropped below the current $678 a ton for peanuts. But shellers and manufacturers argued before a Senate Agricultural Committee field hearing in Suffolk in August that they could not afford to buy domestic peanuts at that price.
In a compromise, the Senate approved a $628 a ton subsidy for five years, although peanut farmers wanted to be included with other farm subsidies that run seven years. In November, the House and Senate reached an agreement to reauthorize the program for seven years at $610 a ton.
But the fate of peanuts - as well as all federal programs - continued in limbo into 1996 as legislators struggled with the Budget Reconciliation bill.
In the area that calls itself the ``World's Largest Peanut Market,'' the industry has been struggling. Several plants have closed, including Parker Peanut Co. and Virginia Peanut Processors. Pond Brothers Peanuts was sold, and the Virginia-Carolina Peanut Farmers Co-operative Association outside Franklin filed for protection under federal bankruptcy laws.
- Susie Stoughton Children's Center is on the move
In September, The Children's Center started a mainstreamed day-care program in its new Suffolk facility on Executive Court.
The non-profit agency that works with disabled children had bought a former office building off Wilroy Road in April.
In Franklin, the agency's staff ushered in 1996 by moving into the new Texie Camp Marks Children's Center on Campbell Avenue over the New Year's weekend.
The telephone lines had not been connected and the parking lot had not been paved, but children arrived for therapy and day-care programs Tuesday morning.
A dedication service and an open house are planned for spring, said Barbara Mease, executive director.
The agency can handle 100 children in Franklin, and thanks to the additional room, there are still openings in each class.
For information, call 562-6806 in Franklin or 538-2523 in Suffolk.
- Susie Stoughton Peanut Fest moves to new location
In October, the 18th annual Peanut Fest moved to a new location - more than twice the size of the old site and eyed as a permanent home for the city's yearly festivities in honor of the legume and its contribution to the city's success.
The celebration took a team of seven past chairmen working together for months to prepare the site at a different portion of the Suffolk Municipal Airport after the city decided to revamp an old drag strip, where recent festivals had been held.
Peanut Fest officials estimated that 200,000 people attended the four-day event, despite rain several days.
- Susie Stoughton Local attorney pleads guilty to embezzlement
In October, Dennis L. Montgomery - a local lawyer charged with diverting more than $100,000 from two estates he administered - pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement.
Retired Judge James M. Lumpkin of Richmond was called in to hear the case to avoid possible conflict among local judges. He ordered a pre-sentence report and a victim impact statement.
Sentencing for Montgomery, 49 - originally set for Dec. 15 - was continued until Friday. Montgomery had asked to surrender his license to the State Bar Association.
Two civil suits - one on behalf of each of the clients - have been filed in Circuit Court to seek to recover the lost funds.
- Susie Stoughton Lottery winner's dream is owning a new home
With the last dollar in his pocket, Alphonso ``Pete'' Brown Jr. hit the Pick 6 jackpot in April, winning $2.1 million. The money - after taxes, a little more than $70,000 a year for 20 years - would be used for a new home for his wife and their two sons, Brown said after picking up the first installment.
Since then, the Browns have moved from their rental duplex into a new home off Nansemond Parkway. He's also realized another dream - a new truck for himself.
This year, Brown plans to buy a new car for his wife, Sandra - a cook at Oliver's Grocery, and take the family to Disney World.
Brown, 41, is looking for a part-time job. Formerly a mechanic at Virginia Design Packaging Corp., he's bored with the life of leisure, he said this week.
- Susie Stoughton Video about Nat Turner stirs anger in community
On Sept. 4, The Virginian-Pilot reported the making of a commercial videotape, ``Nat Turner: The Burning Spirit.''
The low-budget video created controversy in Southampton County. Stanley E. Squire Holcomb, 74, the film's director, got death threats and several white actors and actresses on the set were harassed by whites who feared the film would create a racial storm.
After the story was published, Holcomb reported that actors still were being harassed.
The good news for Holcomb was that the film was to have been completed by the end of December. He plans to distribute the tapes through community organizations such as the NAACP. It sells for $24.95.
For more information, call Holcomb at 834-3901.
- Terri Williams COURTS, COUNCIL & POLITICS Four Council seats up for grabs in '96
Although 1995 was not an election year, the upcoming 1996 elections played a hidden role in this year's City Council actions. Four of the council's seven seats are up for election this year. Some of those upcoming contests were previewed before the City Council.
One of the most heated elections will likely be for the seat held by Councilman Richard Harris, who represents the city's Sleepy Hole Borough. Harris has been frequently challenged before the council by Paul C. Gillis, head of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who has accused Harris of not doing enough for his African-American constituents. Harris countered by attempting to become a member of the NAACP, where he was rebuffed by Gillis and not allowed to join.
Council members Marian ``Bea'' Rogers, Vice Mayor Curtis R. Milteer and Mayor S. Chris Jones are also up for election.
- Mac Daniel International Sppedway still on drawing board
Another major project for Suffolk was also delayed via the courts. Almost a year after the City Council approved rezoning for a 684-acre industrial park and race track in northern Suffolk, a squabble between the city and residents who live near the site appears to have delayed the project.
Since it was first approved last January, the project has yet to break ground.
The city initially approved the Northgate Industrial Park and the Suffolk International Speedway last January. Chesapeake and Suffolk residents then filed a lawsuit against the city, saying they and Chesapeake city officials were not given adequate notice of a public meeting and that the rezoning was illegal. The City Council approved the rezoning again in March to allow proper notice.
The project still untouched, the case went to court, where a judge ruled the city did nothing wrong or illegal in rezoning the land. So far, residents contesting the industrial park and race track have yet to raise enough money to appeal the ruling.
The industrial park and race track, located at the intersection of Shoulders Hill Road and Nansemond Parkway, would be the largest in the city, with rail access as well as quick passage to I-664. Thus far, however, the city has announced no major clients for the project.
- Mac Daniel \ Downtown improvement is a major priority
The sprucing-up of Suffolk's ailing downtown was a major priority for the city in 1995.
The start of construction for a new courthouse facility is talked of as the start of a mini-renaissance for downtown merchants and the city's image. Even before construction began, new eateries began cropping up in long-abandoned city shops.
The courthouse, an estimated $14 million building that will take up a half block of Main Street when it is completed in 1997, will house all the city's court facilities and the sheriff's department.
Currently, every courtroom in Suffolk - from city courts to General District Court - is cramped. No courtroom in the city meets standards for handicapped access.
The price of the courthouse has gone up since it was first proposed at $12 million. And after a local merchant won an injunction against the construction when his store was to be razed to make room for a parking lot, and after asbestos was found in the old J.C. Penney store on the corner of Main and Bank streets, it remains unknown if the cost of the project will rise with the delays.
- Mac Daniel Political campaigns stir interest
Longtime veterans defeated challengers for their posts: In Suffolk, Clerk of the Court Henry R. Murden, and in Southampton County, Commonwealth's Attorney Richard C. Grizzard and Board of Supervisors member Reggie W. Gilliam in the Capron district.
Also winning re-election in Southampton were Commissioner John Robert Harrup and Treasurer David K. Britt.
But three newcomers grabbed seats on the seven-member Board of Supervisors in Southampton: Carl J. Faison, who upset the Boykins district incumbent; and Dennis A. Maddrey in the Berlin-Ivor district and Walter L. Young Jr. in Franklin who ran for seats being vacated by veterans who were not listed on the ballot.
Re-elected without contest in Southampton County were Sheriff Vernie W. Francis Jr. and three supervisors - Dallas O. Jones in the Drewryville district, Eppa J. ``Jimmy'' Gray in the Jerusalem district and Charleton W. Sykes in the Newsoms district.
- Susie Stoughton Revolving door in Franklin City Hall
Southampton County Administrator Rowland L. ``Bucky'' Taylor recently finished building a new home about two miles west of Franklin but announced in November that his family would soon move again.
The Boykins native started looking for a home in Franklin after being tapped as city manager. He assumed the new post Monday, replacing John J. ``Jack'' Jackson, who retired in August for health reasons.
The move to hire Taylor, who is white, further angered a group of blacks, who were already upset over the council's firing of the acting city manager, Dale R. Cooke - who is black, in October.
Cooke, 45, was hired as assistant to the city manager in April 1994. When Jackson resigned after a recurrence of brain cancer, Cooke was appointed on an interim basis.
When Cooke was fired, Mollie E. Bass - who retired in the spring of 1994 as assistant city manager, was asked to return to City Hall until a new manager could be hired.
Cooke has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging racism by the city.
- Susie Stoughton
IN THE SCHOOLS Camp Community College dedicates Suffolk campus
Nearly 600 students took classes at Paul D. Camp Community College's new Suffolk home, the Oliver K. Hobbs Campus on Kenyon Road.
In March, former Gov. Mills E. Godwin helped dedicate the nearly $3.6 million facility, the first of three wings college officials hope to build. A plaque honoring Hobbs, who donated the 25-acre site, was later placed in the campus garden.
Spring registration will be held through Friday, with classes resuming Monday.
Enrollment is growing with the new facility, said Ross Boone, director of academic instruction.
The Hobbs Campus has created opportunities for employee training for local business and industry, provided space for small business groups to hold meetings and allowed the faculty to expand its curriculum.
- Susie Stoughton Trump named new superintendent
The School Board voted unanimously in May to promote then Assistant Superintendent Joyce H. Trump to superintendent. The board approved a two-year contract with an annual salary of $76,158.
Former Superintendent Beverly B. Cox III retired in June.
Trump was one of seven finalists in a nationwide search for the top job. Her knowledge of the system was a plus, Board Chairman Arthur D. Smith said at the time.
Except for a five-year administrative stint in the Franklin City district, she has spent her career in Suffolk. Trump worked her way up the central office ladder after about a dozen years in the classroom and two years as an assistant principal at the former Suffolk High.
- Vanee Vines Ground breaking for new school
The district broke ground in June for the elementary school now under construction in the Harbour View area. The School Board recently named the school Northern Shores Elementary.
Planned for students who now attend Florence Bowser Elementary, Northern Shores will have technology, art and music labs. Telephone lines and television monitors will link every classroom to the library. The school also will be air-conditioned. It's scheduled to open by fall 1996.
- Vanee Vines New principal for Nansemond River
In March, the School Board voted to hire Samuel B. Jones as the principal of Nansemond River High, succeeding Assistant Superintendent Parris D. Carson.
Carson - who had been Nansemond River's interim principal for most of the 1994-95 school year - stepped in when the district reassigned former Nansemond River Principal Allen E. Breland to the Facilities and Planning Department.
As former principal of Franklin City High School, Jones earned a name for himself by stressing continuous achievement gains and encouraging teachers to help him come up with solutions to school problems.
- Vanee Vines Minority achievement
In November, Charlene E. Christian started her new job as an ``instructional specialist'' whose primary responsibility is to find ways to help improve academic achievement among minority students.
Suffolk was only the latest school district to create such a position. The Williamsburg-James City district has had a ``minority achievement coordinator'' since 1989.
Although School Board members didn't spell out the kinds of minority achievement gains they wanted to see, they said the district needed to take a hard look at the issue. The administration agreed.
The board's Minority Achievement Task Force proposed the idea of a special administrator in early 1995.
- Vanee Vines
DEVELOPMENT Local sewer lines extended underwater
The area may not have any oil fields, but the Hampton Roads Sanitation District has borrowed technology used in drilling for oil to extend sewer lines through northern Suffolk to Smithfield.
Using directional drilling, construction workers have buried pipes under the Nansemond River and four other waterways without disturbing the wetlands areas or river beds. The epoxy-covered pipe was installed beneath, instead of over, the Nansemond and Pagan rivers and Chuckatuck, Cypress and Bennetts creeks.
The project was nearing completion by the end of December. About 6,000 feet of pipe still needs to be installed, and the completion date is targeted for early 1996.
- Susie Stoughton Building Harbour View
Since October 1993, when ground was broken for the first home in the Harbour View development, the landscape of that northeast corner of Suffolk has changed from farmland to a surburban, planned community.
Almost 300 lots in four villages were sold during 1995, and 480 homes are already occupied. Bob Williams, executive vice president of the Jorman Group, the project's developers, noted that in addition to single homes in a wide price range, work has also started on duplexes that will be priced from $81,000 to $94,000.
Site development work has been completed on the second phase of Burbage Grant, the project's initial section, opening up another 400 residential lots for building. Williams also said that, beginning in the spring of 1996, resevations will be taken for golf course and waterfront lots in the higher priced West Village section.
Harbour View has been designed to integrate residential development with recreation, office, retail and light industrial facilities. Recently, FAG Ball Bearings completed a 100,000-square-foot warehouse/manufacturing/office facility in Lake View Industrial Park, the project's commercial component.
In September 1996, Suffolk's newest elementary school, the 700 pupil Northern Shores Elementary, is to open on Respass Beach Road in Harbour View.
(A full Sun story on Harbour View ran on Feb. 2, 1995.)
- Phyllis Speidell
GOOD CAUSES United, they help
Suffolk's United Way volunteers kicked off the general campaign for the annual fund drive in August, hoping to raise $363,860.
The drive, with this year's theme ``Angels Among Us,'' was a 4.8 percent increase over last year's.
At the end of the year, the Suffolk campaign had received $350,966 in pledges, or 96.5 percent of its goal.
For the first time, the Suffolk United Way boasted of a member of the de Tocqueville Society - a donor who contributed $10,000 or more. Thomas Smith, a Gates County (N.C.) native and now a cornerback with the Buffalo Bills, gave $10,000 to assist sickle cell anemia. His aunt, Mary Goodman, outreach/health educator for the local Sickle Cell Anemia Society, had ``drafted'' Smith.
Suffolk is a part of the South Hampton Roads United Way, which collected $10,448,950 for 100.3 percent of its goal.
- Susie Stoughton Habitat for Humanity builds two houses
Suffolk's Habitat for Humanity volunteers started the new year with a bang - literally, as they continued work on a second project, a new home for Arthur Beamon. The two-story house on South Broad Street was dedicated in April, then the volunteers walked next door and broke ground for a house for Priscilla Jones.
The third Suffolk Habitat house was finished the week before Christmas, just in time for Jones' family to celebrate the holidays amid boxes.
Habitat organizers will wait until spring to start the next house. Until then, they will select a site and the next homesteader. They are also trying to recruit additional volunteers to help with or supervise various areas of construction.
To help with the project, call Fran Alwood at 539-5780.
- Susie Stoughton Bike and street safety improvements are pushed
On Sept. 26, The Virginian-Pilot reported Frances Riddle's fight to improve bike and street safety after the July death of 8-year-old P.L. Chapman.
Chapman died from head injuries when the bike he was riding with his friend, 9-year-old Deon Terrell Skeeter, collided with a car on Market Street. In the past five years, there had been 50 accidents along the street, one resulting in a fatality.
Riddle gathered 150 signatures to improve street conditions. Since the story ran, city officials report that they have restriped intersections on Market, cut brush and improved signage. Suffolk police Maj. W. Freeman said plans are underway to have a citywide bike safety program by the new year.
``The Market street situation was the catalyst that allowed us to notice that we don't have enough sidewalks and that we need to increase safety,'' said Freeman.
- Terri Williams Campaign started to build Grace Home for Children
On July 18, The Virginian-Pilot reported Carrie Davis' campaign to start an emergency shelter for children in Chuckatuck.
Called Grace Home for Children, the shelter would house about eight kids ages 4-17 in a five-bedroom house. Children could stay up to 60 days before being placed in foster care by the state. Davis has petitioned City Council for funding and has received some funding from churches. But she still needs the $50,000 to start the home and to hire staff.
Send donations to Grace Home for Children, P.O. Box 3137, Suffolk, Va. 23439 or call 255-2425.
- Terri Williams Pope brothers, World War II vets
In early December, the Franklin City Council honored five Pope brothers, all military veterans, with a proclamation commending them for their service to their country during World War II.
A sixth Pope brother, Alphonso Pope, was recognized for his service in the Air Force in the Viet Nam war.
In the early 1940s Lucy and James Pope had moved their seven children from a farm in Newsoms to Franklin. Beginning in August 1943, the five oldest children were drafted, one by one, into the Army and Navy. All five brothers returned from the war safely and a few years later, baby brother Alphonso Pope joined the Air Force where he served for 20 years.
The proclamation, which honored Alphonso and Johnie Pope, both of Franklin, Rufus and Jimmie Pope, both of Portsmouth, Olie Pope of Abingdon, Md., and Raymond Pope, now deceased, praised the men for serving their country faithfully and well 50 years ago and recognized them as ``true Veterans Day heroes.''
(A full story on the Popes ran on Nov. 10.)
- Phyllis Speidell
SPORTS Peanut Pony League seeks to save field
On Aug. 20, the Sun reported the plight of the Peanut Pony League's efforts to save its field, Fermer Perry Memorial.
Clarence Babb, president of both the League and the Southwest Athletic Association, organized fund-raisers to purchase the field from its owner, Frank Perry. Babb said the League is still in negotiations.
In August, Perry was trying to subdivide the 22 acres in which the field sits. If the field were subdivided, it would cost the team $25,000. However, if the entire land were sold, it would cost the team about $75,000.
Joshua Pretlow, an attorney for Fermer, would not comment.
For more information about donations, call Babb at 934-3281.
- Terri Williams Five hopeful recruits invited to football camp
After the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions held a spring 1995 try-out camp at Nansemond River High School, five hopeful recruits were invited to the team's training camp at Towson State College in Maryland.
Donald Hill, Stallions wide receiver coach and Suffolk native, said that two players performed well enough to stay in the camp until the last cuts were made.
The Stallions, currently campaigning for 20,000 season ticket sales in order to stay in Baltimore, are the CFL champions. They won the 1995 Grey Cup, the CFL counterpart to the Superbowl, in Regina, Saskatchewan.
- Phyllis Speidell ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
CATCHING UP, LOOKING AHEAD
File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
In March, Paul D. Camp Community College's new Suffolk home was
dedicated.
File photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Inspectors Robert Hancock, left, and Bob Culberson check the
fuselage of the plane that crashed in March.
File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Pete Brown and his wife Sandra are enjoying the $2.1 million
jackpot.
File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
The 82-year-old Planter's Peanut factory came tumbling down on July
8. The cleared site will become a parking lot.
File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
The old J.C. Penney building comes down to make way for Suffolk's
new $14- million courthouse facility.
File photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Alice Bridger, left, smiles as Henry Murden gets a hug from a friend
after winning the Suffolk clerk of courtt race.
by CNB