News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 2, 2026
News Archives for 2008
NK capital improvement plan passed on to supervisors
New Kent’s Planning Commission members have passed on a favorable recommendation to the county’s Board of Supervisors regarding items that relate to land use planning in a proposed capital improvement plan for the next fiscal year. But due to deferrals prompted by the county’s goal of incurring no new debt next year, commission members only had to consider just over $500,000 of the close to $20 million in proposed capital spending for 2008-09. Big ticket items that would fall under the commission’s scrutiny, such as $2 million for architectural and design work on a new elementary school and $1.25 million…
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Judge gives defendant a break
A Charles City Circuit Court judge has given a county man convicted of felony marijuana possession with intent to distribute a break by reducing the crime to a misdemeanor. But the defendant has been issued a stern warning not to come back with any future violations. James Irvin Wright, 22, of 8101 Adkins Road, entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charge on Dec. 7. Last Friday, Judge Thomas B. Hoover agreed to a defense request to reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor, but not before grilling the defendant on the facts of the case. Wright was arrested last…
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NK, CC players make All-District
Several athletes from New Kent and Charles City high schools have earned all-district honors in basketball. New Kent senior Nick Sickal has been named to the All-Bay Rivers District first team in boys’ basketball while Charles City senior Jolisa Williams earned first team status for the All-Tri-Rivers District girls’ team. Named to second team in Bay Rivers was New Kent sophomore Steven Allen. The Trojans’ Dorrein Akrie and Michael Owens received honorable mention. In Tri-Rivers, Shana Braxton was named to the second team for girls while Joy Wynn earned honorable mention. On the All-Tri-Rivers boys’ team, Aaronde Williams was named…
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Jamestown short-circuits New Kent’s post-season hopes
Losing in the Bay Rivers District basketball tournament quarterfinals didn’t figure into the post-season play scripted for New Kent’s Trojans. Sometimes, however, things don’t go as planned. Jamestown’s sixth-seeded Eagles upset the host Trojans, the tourney’s number three seed, 73-70 as quarterfinal play got under way on Feb. 18. The loss cast the Trojans into wait-and-see mode, meaning their Region I playoff hopes hinged on the two top seeds, Tabb and Poquoson, reaching the tournament final. But if a lower seed managed to sneak in, the Trojans’ season would be over. Unfortunately, the latter scenario played out with Lafayette claiming…
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College hopeful flunks urine test
A New Kent man was set to walk out of county circuit court on Monday with his jail term, incurred for a pair of felony convictions, postponed so that he could finish his first semester of college work. That is until a court probation officer intervened. Probation officer Jeff Seeley, meeting with Michael Douglas Mayer following Monday’s trial, ordered the defendant to undergo urine screening for drugs. That was after Mayer had told Judge Thomas B. Hoover that one to two years had elapsed since he last used drugs. The test, meanwhile, proved positive for marijuana. Earlier and as part…
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Defendants in high-speed chases in NK plead guilty
Two men who led New Kent deputies on separate high-speed chases in the county last year have pleaded guilty to felony charges of eluding police. Garrie Gene Neal, 41, of 9606 Holland St. in Richmond, and Timothy Stuart Taylor, 22, of 1304 Chipper Court in Highland Springs, entered guilty pleas to one count each of felony eluding police on Monday in New Kent Circuit Court. As part of separate plea deals, charges of assaulting a police officer lodged against both men were dropped. Neal also pleaded guilty to an amended charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He had…
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NK vendor fears zoning law proposal could close business
No exclamations of “Hot dog!” greeted a proposed set of minimum standards governing mobile food stands and other temporary land uses now under consideration by New Kent’s Planning Commission for incorporation into county zoning law. In fact, the popular American frankfurter comprises the meat of a controversy that boiled over during the commission’s Feb. 19 public hearing on the proposed standards. Bill Jennings, owner of Bill’s Hot Dogs, a mobile food stand in Providence Forge, fears that if the standards become law, he will be forced out of business. Jennings and several supporters voiced concerns during last week’s hearing. “I’m…
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NK planners seek more data on environmental impact
New Kent Planning Commission members want to study soil data and determine impact on a nearby stream before taking a stance on a rezoning request that will pave the way for an equestrian-themed housing subdivision. Developers Pete Sweet and Dennis Mountcastle plan to build 16 residences on just over 95 acres in Quinton and are asking to rezone the site from agricultural to single-family residential. The property, owned by the Gooden family, is located on the north side of Route 249 and flanks Topeka Road. Each lot would have a minimum five acres of pasture in keeping with the equestrian…
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Existing law allowing rifle use in supervisors’ cross hairs
For the past two seasons, hunters in Charles City County have exercised their right to hunt deer using high-power rifles fired from elevated tree stands. That privilege, however, may be close to being shot down. Last night (Tuesday), the county’s Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 to schedule a public hearing on a proposal that would make it illegal to hunt deer with any rifle other than a muzzle-loader during general firearm season. If passed, the measure would in essence overturn the current law that has been on county books for two years. Last November’s election changed the board’s makeup as…
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No promises made on school money request
New Kent School Board chairman Joe Yates gave county Board of Supervisors members a few seconds to digest the schools’ requested 13 percent increase in local money for the next school year. It’s unclear, however, if supervisors developed an immediate case of collective heartburn. School officials presented their $27 million fiscal 2008-09 budget proposal to supervisors during a work session yesterday (Tuesday) morning. The request includes just over $10.9 million in county dollars, a figure that is almost $1.3 million higher than the $9.7 million schools received for the current year. Most of the local money increase is aimed at…
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