Franklin County’s top stories of 2023

Union Hall incumbents unseated

Political newcomer Dan Quinn unseated incumbent Tommy Cundiff for the Union Hall District seat on the Franklin County Board of Supervisors in November.

Quinn, a Smith Mountain Lake resident, won the race by a slim 51% over Cundiff. He said his goal as the new supervisors would be to bring more business to the district where many residents have to travel long distances for groceries and other services.

Teacher Scott Agee defeated longtime incumbent P.D. Hambrick who had held the Union Hall District seat on the Franklin County School Board for 31 years.

Agee won with 65% of the vote. He said during his campaign that the key focus for him is better communication with parents, more transparency with parents and more consistency with student education.

Term limits in Rocky Mount

In March, the Rocky Mount Town Council voted to approve term limits for both the mayor and members of the council.

It was something Mayor C. Holland Perdue campaigned on in 2022. One of his first acts as mayor was the creation of a charter review committee to consider term limits. He was the chairman of the committee overseeing two meetings held in January and February.

If approved by the Virginia General Assembly during the next legislative session in 2024, the mayor and council members will be limited to three consecutive terms of four years each starting on Jan. 1, 2025. The change will not impact previous terms only those going forward. Council members currently serving would still be allowed to be reelected to three terms after term limits are put in place.

Ferrum College names new president

Mirta Martin was named as Ferrum College’s 13 president this year. What started as an interim position following the resignation of previous president David Johns became official in October. That month the private college’s board of trustees announced her appointment to the position.

As soon as she started early this year, Martin jumped headlong into addressing one of Ferrum’s biggest challenges — a long term decline in enrollment. Martin has visited high schools and churches across the region to make the case for Ferrum as an option for students seeking smaller class sizes and individualized attention.

In April, Ferrum launched a program called Panther Promise, which will provide free in-state tuition to qualifying students for the 2023-24 academic year. In November, she announced a $10,000 reduction in undergraduate tuition for students as she continues to entice students to the college.

New leadership for county schools

Superintendent Bernice Cobbs announced she would be stepping down from the role late last year after just under three years in the position. A Franklin County native, Cobbs had worked in school system for 25 years before deciding to retire.

With Cobbs’ contract ending June 30, the Franklin County School Board moved quickly to find a replacement. In May, former Pulaski County Public Schools superintendent Kevin Siers was chosen to take over the role. His contract began July 1.

Siers said the decision to move was not only because of the natural beauty of Franklin County, but also a new challenge. The county has nearly 2,500 more students enrolled than does Pulaski County, as well as six additional schools.

Deadly year at Smith Mountain Lake

It was a tragic year on Smith Mountain Lake in 2023. The year saw three boating fatalities and two drownings, which made it one of the most deadly years in some time.

The year began with the death of two Danville men involved in a boating incident in the Penhook area of Smith Mountain Lake on Jan. 2. It unfortunately was not the only boating fatality this year on the lake. Another boating incident occurred on Sept. 16 when a Penhook man struck a tree while operating a boat near channel marker R11.

The first of two drownings occurred May 15 when a man was recovered near the dock of a home in Moneta. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said he was believed to have been working on the dock at the time he fell into the water. The second drowning occurred Sept. 10 when a Roanoke man is suspected of falling into the water and drowning at Crazy Horse Marina in Moneta.

Harmful algal blooms dent tourism

The discovery of harmful algal blooms on the Blackwater River arm of Smith Mountain Lake led the state to issue a swim advisory for the area June 6. The advisory remained in areas of the lake until late August and is believed to have had a serious impact on tourism this year.

In water sampling conducted by the Virginia Department of Health, algal blooms were found to contain detectable levels of microcystin, a toxin produced by cyanobacteria which is commonly known as blue-green algae. There has been no definitive reason so far for the appearance of the blooms. They often are fueled by phosphorus that comes from organic material as well as fertilizer.

More than 40 potentially harmful algal blooms were sighted and reported during the summer. Slow testing by VDH led to lengthy delays and is believed to extended the advisory. The Smith Mountain Lake Association recently announced they would be working to speed up the process next year if the harmful algal blooms return.

Defamation lawsuit dismissed

A Boones Mill family’s libel lawsuit, which claimed ABC News defamed them by including a four-second video of their home in a story about politics and race, was dismissed May 19 by a federal judge.

Crystal Minnix and her father Eugene Muse Jr. had alleged that an online story by ABC News about local reactions to the riots at the U.S. Capitol — and the arrests of two off-duty officers of the Rocky Mount Police Department who participated in the insurrection — branded them as racists who support violence.

The allegations by Minnix and Muse, who did not appear and were not named in the story, “find no footing in defamation law,” Judge Michael Urbanski wrote in throwing out the lawsuit.

Rather than recovering any of the $67 million in damages they sought, the family members will be required to pay the attorney fees for two other defendants they named in the lawsuit: Bridgette Craighead and the local chapter of Black Lives Matter that she founded.

Ex-chief deputy convicted

Justin Sigmon, a former major with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, was convicted Nov. 17 of having abusive sexual contact with a minor under the age of 12. The decision came after a weeklong trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Sigmon was arrested in Florida on May 29 following a cruise with his family from the Port of Miami to the Bahamas and back. While on the cruise, a witness saw him touching a 9-year-old female inappropriately while she was sitting on his lap in the ship’s dining room, according to court documents.

The witness made a video of the incident which was obtained by police. Ship surveillance also recorded Sigmon.

Sigmon resigned from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on June 2, just days after the arrest. At the time, he was the second-highest ranking officer.

Ex-boyfriend convicted in killing of Heather Hodges

Former boyfriend Paul Reivens Jordan II was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison for the killing of Hodges with another 10 years suspended, as well as five years for the concealment of her body, which still has not been found. The sentencing came in August, two months after his jury conviction.

The verdict came after jurors heard evidence for three days in the county’s circuit court — including repeated testimony describing Jordan’s physical abuse of Hodges during a relationship that began when Hodges was 12 and lasted about 10 years, until she disappeared in April 2012.

During initial investigations, blood was found throughout the Rocky Mount house the couple shared and DNA tests matched it to Hodges. Jordan’s thumbprint was found in Hodges’ blood on the underside of a doorknob to their bedroom.

Jordan continued to deny having anything to do with Hodges’ disappearance or murder during the sentencing. He admitted to having a drug addiction in the past as well as associating with people he shouldn’t have, but claimed he still loved Hodges and was not involved in her death.

Ferrum man guilty of killing wife’s 2 dogs

Terry Eugene Michel of Ferrum was sentenced to serve 15 months in jail Nov. 2 for killing his wife’s two black Labrador retrievers named Caleb and Colby. The sentencing came less than a month after a two-day trial, during which a jury found Michel guilty of two counts of felony animal cruelty.

He had initially reported to police the dogs were stolen near Waid Park in Rocky Mount on Feb. 7. That led to a weeklong search with several in the community helping to locate them.

The search came to an end on Feb. 14 when the two dogs were located dumped on the side of Carolina Springs Road. Police investigation later revealed Michel had taken the dogs to an open field and shot them, then later dumped them on the side of the road. He claimed the two dogs were a detriment to his marriage.