Tobacco Heritage Trail Officially Open

The South Boston section of the Tobacco Heritage Trail is officially open to the public.

Trail officials, engineer and trail contractor conducted a final walk through on Friday and determined the trail was complete and ready to be open.

An official ribbon cutting will take place at a later date.

Volunteers are still be sought to assist with the trail. If interested in helping with the trail contact trail coordinator Heather Susee at hsusee@southsidepdc or 434-447-7101.

Prizery awarded $5,000 tourism marketing grant

The Prizery in South Boston has been awarded a $5,000 tourism marketing grant for its "Expect the Extraordinary" project, Governor Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday.

The Prizery is among 45 local tourism initiatives awarded matching grant funds in the amount of more than $660,000 by the Virginia Tourism Corporation as part of the corporation's marketing leverage grant program.

Also awarded a $2,000 grant was Red Hill - Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation for its Bluegrass, Barbecue & Brew Festival held at Patrick Henry's Red Hill.

The grants help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging local marketing dollars. The local organizations match the state grant funds by a minimum of 3:1 to create marketing projects such as websites, social media and advertisements.

"Tourism plays such a vital role in Virginia's economy," said McDonnell. "These grants help bring more visitors to Virginia, and in doing so they help create and sustain jobs while generating revenue for businesses and tax income for the localities and the Commonwealth."

Tourism in Virginia generated $19 billion in revenue in 2010, provided $1.3 billion in state and local taxes and supported more than 200,000 jobs. Dollars invested in tourism are proven to provide a 5:1 return in tax revenue for Virginia, and the grant awards and matching funds provide a stimulus to localities seeking to increase tourism visitation and revenue.

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‘Breathe House’ goes up in Haiti

The AWFI (American Wood Finishing Institute) team has just returned to Riverstone from Haiti after assisting with the assembly and completion of the “Breathe House” in St. Marc, Haiti.

The University Of Virginia School Of Architecture partnered with AWFI to engineer a surface coating and application process for the “Breathe House.”

According to Energy Center Director of Business Develoment and Operations Kristy Johnson, the newest Haitian Clinic is a prototype of disaster relief housing utilizing structured insulated panel (SIPS) construction methods.

The University of Virginia, Southern Virginia Higher Education Center’s Innovation Center, SIPS of America, AWFI, Huber and the Riverstone Energy Center collaborated on this unique project to develop an engineered solution specifically for temporary housing.

The team’s responsibility was to design, develop and construct a prototype housing unit that could be easily deployed and erected on site in a short period of time to alleviate affected disaster areas, Johnson explained.

This structure required stringent engineering to withstand adverse climate conditions.  The occupants will find relief from the elements in a highly efficient and breathable structure, she added.

AWFI performed process engineering research on innovative construction materials to provide a protective and decorative coating solution for the interior and exterior surfaces of the “Breathe House.”

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R&D CAMEE Awarded $250K CIT Grant

The Research & Development Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Energy Efficiency (located in the SVHEC-Innovation Center) has been named one of 22 recipients for an innovation grant totaling $250,000.

The Center for Innovation and Technology in Herndon announced the awards totaling $3.1 million for the second round of the FY2012 Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund on Thursday.

Awarded projects represent the areas of advanced manufacturing, aerospace, communications, cyber security, energy, environment, information technology, life sciences and modeling and simulation.

David Kenealy, SVHEC Director of R&D CAMEE, and Catherine Stevens, SVHEC Institutional Effectiveness Specialist, submitted an application entitled “Use of Southern Yellow Pine as an Alternative Material for the Manufacture of Cross-Laminated Timbers for Use in Commercial Construction.”

The project focuses on accelerating Virginia’s advanced manufacturing capacity through research and testing of panelized construction methodology using a renewable and commercially viable natural resource: Virginia: Southern Yellow Pine.

Panelized construction methodology in the form of cross laminated timbers has been widely used in Europe and Canada for decades, but is just gaining recognition as a “green” (highly energy efficient) building material and technology in the US.

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County Native Elected Vice President of Virginia State FFA

Halifax County has good reason to be proud.

For the first time in 40 years and the second time in the history of the county, a Halifax County native has been chosen to represent the Future Farmers of America on the state level.

Rebekah Slabach, a 2011 graduate of Halifax County High School, was elected Thursday as the vice president of the Virginia State FFA for 2012-2013 after competingwith 25 other individuals from across the state.

The announcement was made Thursday at the 86th Annual Virginia State FFA Convention in Blacksburg.

Slabach was the only representative from Southside.

“It was quite an honor,” said an excited Slabach after learning of the prestigious honor.

The newly instated vice president has been an FFA member since her sophomore year at Halifax County High School.

Competing against 25 individuals from other regions in Virginia, enduring several rounds of interviews, tests and several intense and stressful questions on agriculture issues, Slabach remained on top of the competition.

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IDA names new Executive Director

Members of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority on Friday morning unanimously approved the employment of Leonard as the new IDA Executive Director at an annual salary of $100,000.

He will begin work July 16.

“We believe Matt has the intellect, maturity and leadership skills to successfully lead the IDA and to help position Halifax County for improved economic development,” said Board Chairman John Cannon. “His skill sets are very transferrable to this position. He has a vast knowledge of site and infrastructure planning and design, and his management skills will become very important as the assets of the IDA are quite large. His roots in Halifax County and his love and passion for the area made him an even more attractive candidate for this leadership position.”

Formerly, Leonard was the manager of the construction services group with Dewberry & Davis Inc, where he planned and managed public and private projects and programs, training owners, designers, funding sources, regulatory agencies and contractors.

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Chinese Journalists Hosted by IDA

The trio — staff members for Lens magazine, a slickly produced publication that resembles National Geographic with (for American eyes) indecipherable text — made a stopover in the county as part of a 10-day tour of sites in the Old Dominion. While the affair yesterday consisted of a pleasant luncheon at Molasses Grill, the subtext was all business: a chance to showcase Southside Virginia in a magazine with an affluent readership in the world’s rising economy.

“We are so happy to have them here in Halifax County,” said Jeff Reed, IDA project manager, who coordinated the visit. “We just want to be on their radar screen and want them to see what Halifax County has to offer businesses who might want to locate in the area. We want them to see our warm and beautiful community.”

For the journalists themselves, the swing through Halifax County provided abundant opportunity to snap photos and marvel at the differences between their homeland and rural America.

Lou Jun, the magazine’s editorial director, talked at length (in fairly smooth English) about the clean air and lack of smog, a world of difference from Beijing where he works. He also was wowed by the number of trees he has seen during his visit to the state — again, a sight apart from the industrial metropolis where he normally works.

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U.S. Chamber honors South Boston eatery

Tuesday at America’s Small Business Summit 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce honored Italian Delight of South Boston with the Community Excellence Award, recognizing the success it has achieved in the eyes of its employees, customers and community.

“In winning the community excellence award, the success of Italian Delight has been recognized by the most important audience of all — its customers, neighbors and employees,” said Thomas J. Donohue, U.S. Chamber president and CEO.  “Italian Delight is a wonderful example of the promise of the American Dream. The company has been an inspiration not only to the South Boston community but to aspiring small business owners across America.  Today we honor Viny Ruotolo-Sarnataro and Italian Delight for their accomplishments.”

Italian Delight was named one of the U.S. Chamber’s 75 Blue Ribbon Small Business Award winners on March 1.

Each of these award winners had the opportunity to invite its community to show support for their business through online voting.  Italian Delight received more votes than any of their competitors, becoming the fourth recipient of the annual Community Excellence Award.

The Award is part of the U.S. Chamber’s DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Awards program, sponsored by Sam’s Club.  The awards program is designed to recognize companies that showcase exemplary business practices in the areas of employee development, community involvement, customer service and strategy.

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