Phase II Tobacco Board Clarifies Payment Process

Quota Owners to Receive Separate Check for Each Tract

RICHMOND (January 6, 2000) - Chase Manhattan Bank, the trustee of the National Tobacco Growers Settlement Trust Phase II, mailed approximately 40,000 checks to Virginia quota owners and producers on Thursday, December 30. These checks represent about 90 percent of the money available for distribution in Virginia in 1999, a percentage which is among the highest achieved by any of the participating states.

"I encourage all applicants to be patient as these checks and letters continue to arrive in the mail. For quota owners, a separate check is being mailed for each tract that cleared for payment, so checks may arrive over a number of days," said Don Anderson, a member of the Phase II board. "I also want to thank all those individuals and organizations whose efforts made this first-round of 1999 payments so successful."

Many quota owners and producers have already received checks; others will receive theirs in the upcoming days. Applicants who are concerned about late arriving checks are asked to keep in mind the traditional mail delay during the holiday season. Farmers are encouraged to call the toll-free number at Chase (1-800-736-7197) only after they have allowed a few extra days for checks to arrive.

"A small number of potential recipients will not be paid during this cycle because of defects or inaccuracies in their Phase II applications," said Anderson. Chase has informed the board that those applications that were submitted but not cleared for round-one payments will be returned by mail to the farm operators by next week. The mailing will include a letter explaining why no payment or a reduced payment is being received.

In December, the board approved a second round of 1999 fund payments for growers who submitted inaccurate or defective applications. In addition, the board decided that those farm operators who did not return an application in 1999 will be mailed a new application at the end of January for round-two payment. All farm operators must return their applications for round-two payments so that they will be postmarked no later than March 1, 2000.