The Virginia State Unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will hold its 30th annual convention this weekend. The convention is back after three years during which the state SCLC unit was inactive. Events, however, were held during that time at the local SCLC chapters, organization leaders said. This year’s program will start with a women’s luncheon today at noon, where Del. Rosalyn R. Dance, D-Petersburg, will serve as the keynote speaker. Then, Byron Clay, the national SCLC president and CEO, will speak during the larger evening meeting.

At noon yesterday, Carl Winfield stopped for a water break, still about 31 miles from Fredericksburg. Wearing hiking boots, a backpack and a heavy coat, the 60-year-old Petersburg man walked cheerfully—sometimes singing gospel hymns along U.S. 1 near Ashland. Along the way, he said, he stopped to rest and pray at a church, where a passer-by was so excited to hear what he was doing that she brought her two sons to meet him.