| 111th Year, 23rd Issue | Thursday, January 20, 2000 | Sparta, North Carolina |
Alleghany County tobacco farmers may be receiving their share of the Phase II settlement money as late as mid-April, according to Frank Leatherwood, who has been contracted by the law firm of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice to coordinate the distribution of the payments. According to Leatherwood, 350 growers or quota holders in Alleghany County are entitled to a share of the $57.5 million that was awarded to North Carolina as a first payment. This payment was for 1998 and will be followed by payments totaling $149 million in 2000.
"Those who get their forms filled out and get them turned in by the first week in February, may get a check by the end of February," Leatherwood said. "If they are not returned at the end of February, it will be April 15."
Frances Joines of Sparta is currently working out of the Farm Service Agency in Ashe County and assisting the tobacco farmers with their paperwork.
Joines is one of several people who have been hired from different counties to help assist with paperwork and corrections so that the payments can be made. Leatherwood said that about 54,000 farmers statewide remain unpaid.
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