News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | November 1, 2026
Local News
NK school board mulls over options presented in CIP
“This is the first time we are really tackling the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan).” That statement by New Kent school superintendent Rick Richardson only summarizes the process of identifying options for schools during New Kent School Board’s Monday night work session. Up for discussion are two options to address enrollment issues in the county school system. Option A is identified as renovations to the Historic School, while option B entails the addition of two wings, one at New Kent Elementary and one at George Watkins Elementary. Talk on the options took center stage at the meeting, but one thing was…
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Healthcare act affects policy changes for New Kent schools
With the Affordable Healthcare Act coming down the pipeline in 2014, New Kent School Board members took action Monday night on policies that will affect some school employees for the upcoming year. With reluctant and disgruntled looks on their faces, members voted 4-1 to adopt definitions and policies to comply with the healthcare act. The new changes will continue to provide eligibility for health care coverage for full-time employees, but permanent part-time employees will receive healthcare coverage with premium assistance at a reduced level. Discussed and researched by executive director of administration Cynthia Pitts over the last four months, new…
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School board in Charles City encourages parental input
At least two Charles City School Board members are encouraging more parents to become more involved in school functions and child’s activities. Vice-chairman Preston Adkins and District 3 representative Martha Harris spoke about the issue during closing statements at Tuesday night’s meeting. Adkins’ comments pointed to a recent television documentary that highlighted successful schools around the world and contributing factors for their high achievements. “As I watched this show, it was either Japan or China that had the highest ranked school in the world,” the vice-chairman said. “When they asked what the secret was, it was responded the teachers were…
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Colonial Downs’ motorcycle race CUP receives no attention
Motorcycle racing at Colonial Downs apparently is no longer a burning issue among New Kent County residents, most notably those living close to the racetrack. Unlike the heavily attended and often heated public hearings leading up to approval of Colonial Downs’ conditional use permit application for last August’s event, no one showed for tonight’s county Planning Commission hearing on the racetrack’s latest permit request. Thus by a 9-0-1 vote, commission members forwarded the application to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation for approval. Supervisor Tommy Tiller abstained, choosing to vote on the matter with the full board. Track officials…
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Husband and wife team take plea deals in New Kent court
A husband and wife team facing multiple drug distribution counts accepted plea deals involving lesser charges in New Kent Circuit Court Monday afternoon. Matthew Scott Jeffrey, 36, and Karen Lynn Jeffrey (formerly Karen Collier Haboush), 50, both of the 7000 block of Roxbury Road, Quinton, entered guilty pleas to amended charges of distributing drugs as an accommodation, which means they received no personal gain or benefit. Matthew Jeffrey entered a guilty plea to one count, having two charges of conspiracy to possess dropped. Karen Jeffrey pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution as an accommodation, with three counts of conspiracy…
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School bus struck by dump truck in view of NK deputy
While a New Kent deputy sheriff looked on from his police cruiser, a dump truck crashed into the back of a county school bus, sending the bus driver and the lone student on board to a local hospital as a precautionary measure. The Dec. 11 afternoon accident occurred on westbound Route 33, near the Eltham Auto Clinic business that is located west of the village of Eltham, just as the bus was making its final stop to discharge the last student on board. New Kent Sheriff F.W. “Wakie” Howard Jr. said one of two sheriff’s cruisers that had been accompanying…
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Military vet pleads guilty to domestic maiming charge
A military veteran indicted in connection with two separate attacks on his girlfriend inside the Providence Forge home they shared has pleaded guilty to one count of felony domestic maiming. A second maiming count lodged against Jeffrey David Ross, 32, of the 3000 block of Lower Mountain Road in Sanborn, N.Y., was dropped during a Dec. 6 trial in New Kent Circuit Court. Ross, however, pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor violation of a protective order. According to commonwealth’s attorney Linwood Gregory, sheriff’s deputies responded in October 2012 to a domestic disturbance call at the couple’s residence. At that…
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Briefly… for Dec. 19, 2013-Jan. 8, 2014
Colonial Downs track burning set Colonial Downs has scheduled its annual burning of the Secretariat turf course for Friday, April 11, 4-8 p.m., with the event open to the public for the first time. Each year, the track’s Secretariat turf course is strategically set on fire to quickly remove dead “cover” and drive nutrients into the ground so grass returns greener and more lush in time for the upcoming summer racing season. The event will consist of fire-themed activities, including fire juggler Jonathan Austin. Fire breathers, fire eaters, a garage “fire sale” and hot meals will be available. Admission is…
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New Kent farm VOF’s 700,000th easement
Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) recently protected its 700,000th acre of open space thanks to a conservation easement donated on a 116-acre bicentennial farm in New Kent County. Silver Hall Farm has been owned and operated by the Binns family since 1771. The farm sits across from Crawford’s State Forest, which was acquired by VOF in 1995 before transferring to the Virginia Department of Forestry. Silver Hall Farm’s easement prohibits subdivisions and limits the amount of dwellings and other impervious surfaces that can be built on the farm. These restrictions will ensure that the soils (two-thirds of which are designated by…
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Deceptive behavior earns stern warning from judge in NK Circuit Court
A Dispuntanta woman will not receive any active time behind jail bars, but received a stern warning of her deceptive behavior from Judge Thomas B. Hoover during Dec. 9 New Kent Circuit Court proceedings. Katherine Delores Woodlief, 33, of the 10700 block of Pole Run Road, received a five-year suspended sentence. Woodlief accepted a plea deal last year and was placed in the first offender’s program in exchange for sentencing being suspended until the conclusion of the program. The defendant failed to complete the program, and charges from the February 2012 offenses returned to court. While assistant Commonwealth’s attorney Randy…
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