New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

News Archives for April, 2009

NK upended by late surge

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:39 pm

Through six innings, New Kent’s Lady Trojans owned a 2-0 lead despite only two hits. Grafton’s Clippers, on the other hand, had stroked 10 hits, but produced no runs while stranding 13 players on base. That trend came to an abrupt halt. The visiting Clippers scored twice in the seventh to force extra innings and then pushed across three more runs in the eighth on the way to a 5-3 Bay Rivers District softball win. Last Friday’s decision left a sour taste in the mouths of Lady Trojan coach Betsey Lane and her team as it marked their second loss…
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Improving NK tests Grafton

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:38 pm

New Kent’s defense weathered most of an assault waged on the Lady Trojans’ goal by Grafton’s Clippers. But a few shots found the mark as the visitors posted a 3-0 Bay Rivers District soccer win last Wednesday on New Kent’s field. The outcome, however, proved to be a vast departure from previous meetings with the high-powered Clippers. “Last year, they put in 13 goals on us, and this year they’ll probably finish one or two in the district,” said Lady Trojan coach Chad Honey-cutt, whose team fell to 1-2-1 (4-2-2). “We played hard and I know our girls are disappointed,…
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NK falls short against York

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:35 pm

New Kent spotted York’s visiting Falcons a 2-0 first half lead before closing within one just before the break. But neither team could add to the goal total the rest of the way as the Falcons escaped with a 2-1 Bay Rivers District soccer win. Although his team dipped to 1-5 in district play (2-7-1 overall) with the loss, Trojan coach Craig Aliff saw nothing but positives on the field last Friday night. “We played real good soccer, probably the best we have this season,” he said, noting that York is a team flirting with a top four standing in…
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Aggressiveness leads to penalty kicks, KW win over NK

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:34 pm

New Kent soccer coach Craig Aliff is pleased with his team’s aggressive style of play. Overall, that is. His defense, however, could tone it down somewhat in the goal area, he says. King William’s visiting Cavaliers benefited from Trojan fouls to boot a pair of penalty kicks, the second coming after a pushing violation in overtime. That penalty shot lifted the visitors to a 3-2 non-district win on April 17, dropping the Trojans to 2-6-1 on the season. “We’ve got a consistent problem of using the body a little too much in the box,” Aliff said. “We keep giving away…
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Late bat prowess vaults NK over Tabb in BRD softball

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:33 pm

Hitting technique worked on in practice paid dividends for New Kent’s Lady Trojans. With runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth inning and a tie game, Dominique Johnson slapped a RBI single into the opposite field for what proved to be the game winner in New Kent’s 3-2 victory over Bay Rivers District softball rival Tabb. Johnson’s hit scored Nikki Jones, and the hosts held off a Tiger threat in the seventh and final frame to up their record to 8-3 with the April 21 outcome. “Dominique went with the pitch,” her coach, Betsey Lane, said afterward….
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Wheelchair-bound defendant handed 4-year prison term

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:30 pm

A wheelchair-confined Charles City man, who authorities claim allowed his house to become a headquarters of sorts for dealers in the county’s crack cocaine trade, has a four-year active prison sentence to serve. Danny C. Cotman, 54, of 8200 Little Elam Road, pleaded guilty in January under terms of a plea deal to three counts of crack cocaine distribution. Last Friday during sentencing in Charles City Circuit Court, Judge Thomas B. Hoover imposed 20 years on each charge, suspending all but four for the next 20 years. Originally, Cotman had been charged with 13 distribution counts and seven counts of…
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Last minute crime revelation sinks defendant’s plea deal

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:29 pm

A plea agreement resulting in probation and no jail time for a man accused of breaking into a New Kent subdivision’s model home and attempting to steal a flat-screen television came close to being a done deal last week in county circuit court. But a last minute revelation that the defendant is wanted on a felony charge in another jurisdiction wiped the deal off the table. Last Dec. 23, a New Kent deputy encountered DeShun Naheem Scott, 35, of 2603 Brook Forest Terrace in Midlothian, inside an Orleans Homebuilders’ model house in the Patriot’s Landing subdivision off Route 60 in…
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Longtime educator, principal in NK heading for retirement

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:28 pm

Howard Ormond says he was just passing through the area on the way from North Carolina to check out job possibilities in Baltimore when some college buddies he stopped to visit in Richmond put him on to a teaching and coaching position in nearby New Kent County. He never made it to Baltimore. Ormond accepted the New Kent job — teaching physical education and coaching at G.W. Watkins High School. The year was 1965. Forty-four years later, Ormond’s long career in New Kent public education is winding down. At the close of the school year, he is retiring as principal…
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Charles City passes budget without 1-cent tax increase

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:27 pm

Charles City supervisors rejected a proposed 1-cent hike in the county’s real estate tax rate last night (Tuesday) in approving a $21.9 million budget for the next fiscal year. Supervisor Timothy Cotman motioned to approve the budget without the tax increase, saying the $50,000 the 1-cent raise would have provided can be made up through future sources, including grants. The penny had been designated for county emergency services to provide for more man-hours. Compared to the current year’s $23.3 million budget, next year’s figure is about $1.4 million less. The proposed tax increase along with other budget items drew little…
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CC athletics, pay cut restored; GPA requirement unchanged

By Alan Chamberlain | April 29, 2009 2:26 pm

Money has been found to restore high school sports, a 2 percent pay cut, and five of six jobs on the chopping block in Charles City schools. And county School Board members have voted to leave intact the current 2.0 grade-point average students must achieve to be eligible for sports and other extracurricular activities. In March, school officials announced the demise of high school sports as part of drastic measures to deal with revenue shortfalls for the next school year. Officials also imposed a 2 percent pay cut for all employees and eliminated six positions including the assistant principal post…
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