At the same time cotton growers in Virginia are planning to increase their planting in the coming spring, peanut growers in the state are planning to reduce such plantings.

Peanut planting in the state is expected to be reduced by more than 20% this planting season, from 18,000 acres to 14,000 acres. This is according to an estimate made by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Due to drought in the previous season, peanut growers in the state had a poor year. Peanut yields dropped and they produced 27% less peanuts than they did the year before.

Del Cotton, who is the director of the Franklin-based Virginia Peanut Growers Association, forecast the decrease in peanut planting last month. He said that planters would not be growing as much peanuts as the year before, especially in light of current cotton prices.

Cotton added that he expects to see a decrease in peanut production in both Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, as what is true of the state as a whole is true of those two counties as well.

Of Virginia’s 18,000 acres of peanuts last year, Southampton County produced 6,800 acres of it while Isle of Wight County produced an additional 2,300 acres. In the year prior to this, of Virginia’s 12,000 acres of peanuts, Southampton County produced 4,800 acres of it and Isle of Wight County produced another 1,200 acres.

Cotton mentioned two major challenges that are affecting peanut growers in the area. The first concern is the recent economic downturn and the second is the bad winter weather. Also, the demand for snack and candy peanuts has decreased during the previous 5 years. At the same time, there has been a more than 20% increase in demand for peanut butter. The problem is that Virginian peanuts are mostly used for snacks and candy while cheaper peanuts produced out of the state are what are mostly used for producing peanut butter. These peanuts are typically grown by other southeastern states.

While the demand for Virginian peanuts has softened considerably, the demand for the state’s cotton has risen dramatically, along with the prices of it. This has led many farmers in the state to switch from peanuts to cotton. Jonah Bowles, who is an agriculture market analyst for the Virginia Peanut Growers Association, says that cotton is not the only crop in the state that has seen significant rises in prices. According to him, both soybean and corn prices have also risen.

Bowles went on to say that cotton ending stocks have never been as low as they are right now. At the same time, demand for cotton in China has increased considerably. He added that, for a number of weeks, the price for cotton exceeded $2 per pound. He further said that, at the moment, corn is winning the battle for acreage over soybeans.

Gary Cross, who is a farmer in Southampton County that grows both peanuts and cotton, warns that peanut growers in the state could in fact reduce peanut crops even further than what has been estimated by the government. He said that peanut production is largely dependent on whether or not the spring weather is conducive toward peanut planting.

Cross insists that spring weather is such a key factor in determining the planting of peanuts that he could change his mind over whether or not to plant them on the very day that he intends to plant to them, or pretty close to this date. He indicated that if the region experiences a particularly dry spring, he will be more likely to plant cotton instead of peanuts.

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There will hopefully soon be a new judge serving Suffolk, Franklin, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.

With Westbrook Parker retiring from his position on the 5th District Circuit Court, Virginia’s General Assembly recently approved filling the now empty judgeship and will be responsible for selecting a new judge.

Rodham T. Delk Jr., who is currently the chief judge of the court, said that he was not aware of anyone who has shown interest in the position, which pays $163,000 per year. But William Barlow, who is a Democratic delegate in the General Assembly serving Smithfield and who sits on the Courts of Justice Committee, said that he knew of a handful of qualified people who might be interested in the job. Though he declined to name any of them at the moment.

In order to qualify for being a circuit court judge, a candidate must be a lawyer who currently lives in the 5th district. The candidate must also be under 70 years old. After they are initially selected by the assembly, judges on the circuit court serve terms consisting of 8 years.

The selection process is quite quick. One day after the assembly interviews a candidate, his or her election is put to a vote.

At the moment, control of the legislature in Virginia is split between Republicans and Democrats, with the former controlling the House while the latter controls the Senate. According to Del. Barlow, this makes the process of selecting a judge a little more “challenging.”

Still, Barlow insists that, when it comes to selecting to local judges, the legislature usually lets the local representatives choose someone. He added that he thinks that the current list of candidates he has for the position is “excellent,” and he feels very confident that the legislature will ultimately approve one of them.

However, there have been times when the legislature has been unable to come to an agreement on a judge. Barlow says that, if by chance the General Assembly is unable to select a candidate for the 5th District opening, there is a process in place that allows the governor to appoint a judge on a interim basis.

But the interim appointment is temporary, Barlow insists. He says that, if the governor makes such an appointment, the General Assembly reviews this appointment during the assembly’s next session. At this time, the assembly has two choices: either they can accept the governor’s appointment, which would mean that the interim appointment becomes permanent, or they can decide to replace the interim appointment with a judge of their own choosing.

Barlow says that sometimes filing one judgeship requires that they must fill another, which means that they must fill multiple appointments. He says that this typically happens when the General Assembly fills an opening for a circuit judge by selecting someone who is currently a district judge. In such cases, the assembly then must select someone to fill the district judgeship that has become open because of such an appointment.

Westbrook Parker served on the 5th District Circuit Court for 25 years before retiring. His retirement has left a big hole on the court, according to Rick Francis, who is a clerk working on the Southampton Circuit Court. Francis says that there is now only two judges currently sitting on the 5th District Circuit Court: Chief Judge Delk and Judge Carl Edward Eason Jr., who now have to handle all the additional workload. Though Francis says that a group of 8 substitute judges have been assisting the two men on cases that have come in front of the court since Parker’s retirement.

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Prior to January of 2008, the marque of the Armory Drive 3 Cinemas in Franklin, VA was always lit up with current and coming films. Situated in a vacant shopping plaza, the closure of the movie theatre also led to vacant business units to its left and right.

Today the marque simply says ‘closed,’ and it looks like it may stay that was as interest in the old theatre continues to wane as another decade passes.
Angela Beltran of Wheeler Real Estate represents its previous owner and is tasked at finding someone to lease out the movie theater. It’s a formidable challenge as it seems that no one is interested. She stated that she has had some interest, but everything has fallen through.

Last year she had a few showings in the fall and winter, but nothing came of either. At one point a couple was very interested in taking on the lease, but Beltran said they had some personal affairs that popped up and prevented them from making a commitment. Since then, the theatre has sat.

The outside of the theatre could admittedly use some work, and there are a few spots where the roof leaks, but the inside is in great condition. A quick peak inside reveals that the balconies, sloping floor, and projection booths are still in fine shape. Plus, the current property owner Christopoulos Family LLC is only asking for $4,115 a month if a potential renter is willing to take it for use ‘as is.’ That would mean the brunt of the monthly charges would be licensing for the films and concession stand costs.

However, the theatre does need some work that its new renters would have to take on. The heating and cooling system are older and could use an overhaul and the leak does roof. These are factors that led former owner Howard Gainey. Gainey ran Armory Drive 3 Cinemas from 1990 until its closure in 2008. These issues combined with his advancing age led him to close the theatre. Gainey has slowly reduced his business properties and after selling the theatre has no further interest in it.

Beltran, the real estate agent, has been very proactive in her attempts to market the property and has contacted all the movie theatre chains within 50 to 100 miles of the Armory Drive location, but has not had any luck. She stated that no one wants to take on the project in Franklin. It is unlikely that she will be able to find takers for the nearby units until the movie theatre opens again to act as an anchor for the plaza.

It is also unlikely that someone would lease or purchase the theatre space and renovate it as the costs to convert it into a retail store are exorbitant. In order to create a retail store in the same space, the floors would need to be leveled and the entire structure of the building would need to be altered. Even the costs of converting the projection theatre to a digital one would be excessive.

Western Tidewater in general is having an issue with vacant commercial buildings, as the Armory Drive plaza is one of several that have been vacant for years.

Its been a hard decade for the movie theatre industry, as online streaming has cut into their profits. Bloomberg reported that in 2017 movie theatre attendance in both the US and Canada was the lowest since 1992, and attendance is expected to continue to trend downwards. As ticket prices increase to cover the losses, less people are expected to attend films adding to the situation.

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